Currently, the world is facing a global health crisis unlike any other — COVID-19 is spreading human suffering, destabilizing the global economy and upending the lives of billions of people around the globe. Due to the spread of the virus, many of us have faced exceptional challenges that have been stressful, overwhelming, and caused strong emotions regardless of the age or life situation. Public health actions, such as social distancing, are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they inevitably have made many of us feel isolated and lonely, while increasing stress, anxiety, and depressive thoughts. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder during the ongoing pandemic while in June 2019 it was one in ten adults reporting these symptoms.

As the demand for mental health services increased, mental health professionals found themselves charged with the heavy responsibility of guiding others through this time of loss and uncertainty. Many are taking on large caseloads and working longer hours as the demand far exceeds the number of professionals available, leaving little time for respite and proper recovery.

Promoting well-being by personalizing mental health care

One of the essential UN SDGs is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages, and effective mental health treatment has its place in achieving this goal. Currently, one of the main problems in mental health care is the lack of resources for health and therapy services to provide efficient care to everyone in need which pressures professionals to find more effective solutions in their daily work. Finding a personal-fit treatment can take months, and is heavily relying on the patient's feelings and emotions. Gathering, analyzing, and utilizing this information is essential to avoid the pitfalls of depression treatment. With the growing number of mental health patients, the care methods need to be reconstructed and new innovations are required in making mental health care more efficient and solving this alarming global concern.

The pandemic has changed the attitudes toward virtual tools

COVID-19 pandemic caused urgency for healthcare providers, professionals, and patients to rapidly implement innovative virtual care solutions to treat patients safely from their homes. The pandemic has permanently changed the attitudes and expectations towards new digital tools. Many patients and professionals are now more ready for the healthcare system to become more virtual.

At Medified, we believe that creating an adaptable and convenient solution for both mental health patients and professionals to efficiently monitor the treatment process is the solution to tackle these emerging challenges. That is why we have created a solution that enables professionals to gain clinical insight on patient conditions which not only helps professionals make the right data-driven treatment decisions but also provides a way for patients to gain awareness about their health and proactively engage in healthcare management. This is essential especially since patients being actively involved in the treatment is known to be a crucial part of the successful healing process.

The creation of real value for both mental health professionals and patients is at the core of everything we do. We are committed to help professionals work with limited resources by becoming part of the general treatment protocol, and support mental health patients in their personal recovery journey. This way, we can help professionals tackle human errors and put the patient's personal needs first while promoting mental healthcare to take a leap in the use of AI technologies.

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Kiuas Ax'21 questions

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Who or what inspired you to be an entrepreneur?

Young healthcare professionals aka. future colleagues who struggle with the issues of ineffective healthcare processes and digitization of healthcare. Actions to improve healthcare are needed and we were up for a challenge!

If you would get 10 billion euros right now, what would you do?

Half of the 10 billion I would invest to the prevention of mental health in adolescents and teens since we know the backslash of COVID-19 mental health burden hasn’t even yet started and will most definitely have some kind of impact. With the other half, I would most likely start investing in an optimal risk-seeking venture fund focusing on impact startups providing new innovations for renewable energy and cleantech solutions. By investing in the most “crazy” ideas we can achieve major breakthroughs but it most definitely requires courage.

Who is your favorite superhero?

The mighty Thor with the power hammer is most definitely my favorite superhero and it also reminds me of my nickname. Because of my genetic roots, Scandinavian/Viking mythology has always intrigued me the most.

If you could change just one thing in the world, what would it be?‍

If I could change one thing, I would put all of my energy and effort into reducing inequalities in education worldwide. I think it is everybody's privilege to have access to high quality education since it opens up endless opportunities. As the knowledge of society improves, we can tackle the most pressing issues globally. The whole world population has the right to learn more about global warming, excessive use of resources, and health prevention.

Main course at dinner, choose: a) Monkey brains with devils sauce and baby vegetables, b) lab grown steak from human cells and béarnaise with crispy fries, c) Organically grown Nepenthes Truncata salad, including tomatoes, sweet blue peppers and glowing mushrooms with a small chance to kill you instantly.

Definitely option B or C depending on the weather. I trust in science so I would be willing to try out the lab grown steak even though I wouldn’t want to know it was made from human cells. But at the same time exotic salad with a twist of deadly faith sounds kind of tempting during these summer heats.