Rabat – Morocco’s Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences (UM6SS) on Thursday signed a partnership agreement with leading pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to advance the Moroccan health care system and develop e-health solutions in the country.
The partnership bridges the pharmaceutical industry with higher education, UM6SS said in a press release, adding that it is set to “improve the performance of our country’s health system and contribute to the development of e-health and telemedicine in different therapeutic areas.”
The alliance further provides UM6SS students and professors with scientific research opportunities and supports the Moroccan pharmaco-economics and health technology development through the development and implementation of telemedicine solutions.
The use of communication technology in medicine has proven to be essential throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The acceleration of digitization efforts in Morocco has notably extended to the health sector.
In April 2021, Morocco launched its first online mental health resource to provide patients with confidential and professional one-on-one consultations with mental health professionals.
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The same month, AstraZeneca announced its AMAZE disease management platform in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital, to identify at-risk health failure and asthma patients through remote monitoring.
AMAZE also provides a patient app and clinician dashboard to increase “health care efficiency” and “improve the management of complex patient populations.”
Besides the development of e-health solutions, AstraZeneca is mostly known for its COVID-19 vaccine which has been used in over 170 countries, putting it ahead of Pfizer, Sinopharm, and Moderna.
With the support of the global initiative COVAX, Morocco set a goal of receiving a total of 1.6 million vaccine doses including AstraZeneca.
As of June 9, more than 23 million Moroccans and residents have received the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while only 6.4 million people have got their vaccine booster despite the Moroccan government’s continuous call for full vaccination and the respect for preventive measures.
