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Jul 26

African governments are collaborating with innovators to strengthen local health supply chains

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Last year, global healthcare consulting firm Salient Advisory surveyed more than 80 companies across four African countries for a report emphasizing the growth of startups digitizing the continent’s health supply chain and distribution and regulatory frameworks governing e-pharmacy activities, TechCrunch’ Tage Kene-Okafor writes.

This time, the firm went deeper into Africa’s health supply chain segment, broadening the scope of its research and making some tweaks. For one, it searched for startups across 54 countries (compared to four from last year) and included companies with verticalized health supply chain offerings.

Tracking nearly 350 innovators across 27 countries, Salient Advisory’s 2023 report establishes that public health supply chains across the continent are embattled and overburned, leaving most Africans with little choice but to source products from private health innovators. The issue, however, is that private health supply is fragmented from manufacturing to distribution, ultimately impacting price, availability and quality (fake and substandard products are more available in open drug markets in Africa than global standard medicine, for instance.) As such, Salient Advisory’s report, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looks to track innovators leveraging technology to digitize supply chain processes and solve these problems.

“One thing to consider that has happened since the pandemic in Nigeria, and globally to an extent, is several shortages we noticed in supplies like the personal protective equipment (PPE). Those problems existed because of gaps in health supply chains,” Yomi Kazeem, senior consultant for West Africa at Salient Advisory, said on a call with TechCrunch. “And so in light of that, it’s important to take a look at how health startups are using technology to try and improve supply chains on the continent to ensure that individuals in urban areas or in rural communities have better and safer access to health products.”

Salient Advisory findings also show how African governments (about 11 from the research) are working with health supply chain innovators on nearly 50 partnerships, leveraging their tech-enabled solutions to resolve long-term challenges around the availability, accessibility and quality of health products in public health supply chains. Roughly half of the identified partnerships focus on enabling governments to digitize ordering and inventory management to improve efficiency and minimize wastage, highlighting governments’ strong interest in adopting digital order and inventory management solutions.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Kazeem dissects Salient’s findings, touching on the importance of innovators working in partnerships with governments, loopholes that need to be filled despite the commendable efforts, disparities in funding across health supply chain innovation ecosystems and an update on the Investing in Innovation (I3) initiative geared toward female-led startups.

TechCrunch: Salient’s report from last year strictly contained innovators in the private health supply chain segment. But this year’s report includes B2B e-commerce platforms like Copia Global. Why’s that?

Yomi Kazeem: Primarily, the way to think about this is to think about the segments of companies, and the way to categorize them is in what they offer. Despite being an e-commerce company, Copia Global, for instance, was included because over-the-top medication is one of the products it offers in Kenya, where it operates.

Since we’re looking to track startups and innovators that use technology to improve access to medicines, large e-commerce operators, not just Copia, but others like Glovo, Jumia and Konga, also feature. Although health products are not the only thing they distribute and are probably one of their smaller verticals, it’s essential to highlight them because these are significant channels and platforms that could be pivotal to ensure greater and broader access.

What other new categories were introduced in this research?

When you’re thinking about supply chains, you have to think broadly. It’s not just about who’s running an online pharmacy allowing individuals to order products. It includes platforms enabling pharmacies, clinics and hospitals to order products directly from a manufacturer or distributor and getting those products delivered to them, providing retailers with financing and credit solutions. It includes those offering solutions around transport, warehousing and reverse logistics because those are also key supply chain processes and that’s where drone delivery operators like Zipline, which works with governments to deliver essential medical supplies to public health facilities, come in.

The selection also goes beyond this to include other solutions, like those ensuring product protection and visibility, which solves the massive problem of fake and substandard medicines. You have companies like Chekkit building solutions around that. Another interesting subset that we saw, even though there aren’t a lot of these types of companies out there, are those that are involved in supply chain data analytics, trying to figure out what products are being consumed and also helping government agencies in charge of distributing medicines to better plan their demand and understand consumption trends.

Doesn’t the funding raised by these larger companies like Zipline and Glovo skew the numbers reported in the research?

It does. Large U.S. and Europe e-commerce companies and medical drone delivery operators accounted for about 77% of the money raised by the innovators in our research. Although they skew the data a bit because their operations are not just health, it’s something we were super clear and upfront about in the study.

Aside from the intricacies of introducing new innovators to the research, what other exciting trends are worth highlighting from the report?

The more exciting bits lie in core health supply chain startups that are building solutions being adopted by the governments. It’s a huge thing to see in these ecosystems where government agencies or governments, either at national or sub-national levels, are leveraging these solutions to improve public health supply chains. There are several examples of this in Kenya, where Maisha Meds, an inventory management and digital marketplace startup, has partnered with as many as three different county governments in the country, and those county governments are using their inventory management solution in public health facilities.

In terms of real-life impact, for example, by using that technology solution, the public health facilities can manage their stock better or minimize waste because they now have a clever sense of what products are available or when the following stock-up is likely to happen. Without such a tool to give them all that information upfront, they might have many expired products in their inventory without being fully aware of it. So that’s just an example of how these solutions solve real problems for governments. Across the service categories, solutions provided by the order and inventory management category are the most adopted by governments across the continent.

Now, we identified nearly 50 partnerships where governments have or are working with innovators, basically using their solutions to improve the public health and supply chain. This is incredible because one key thing to note is that in the context of health across Africa, if these companies are going to achieve scale, working with large public purchasers is essential to that journey. And so if governments are ordering services from these startups, that’s a pathway to scale. Beyond scale, the benefit to the government or the people is that the benefits of using that technology solution will translate into public health impact.

The report states that these partnerships require support. Is this support from the government or a third party? What’s the context behind this?

Speaking with government officials and startups, the reality of executing partnerships can be challenging, especially regarding funding. For example, a state government asked a startup to source a particular type of product; the order size was worth about $250,000. The startup couldn’t access the credit finance required to fulfill that order because the government would not pay upfront. And so what ended up happening was that the state government had to reduce the size of that order by up to 80%. And in doing that, it cut off essential products, including surgical supplies and consumables.

With that context in mind, our recommendation here is a role for donors and global health agencies to play in designing trade financing solutions and mechanisms and providing that directly to innovators working with large businesses and governments. Those early-stage innovators can access the financing required to fulfill large orders and prove their service’s validity or use case, and can then build the long-term possibility of working together with the government at a level where there’s a better rapport and flow in terms of providing the service and getting paid.

The other thing to point out regarding our recommendations for global health actors is also in continuing to understand the role of grants. So, one of the things we uncovered in the research is that if you look at the funding section, equity is the most common source of funding. But when you disaggregate for companies founded by men and women, you realize that equity is not as equally available to women as it is to men. We have a reality where startups founded by women rely heavily on grants and debt compared to those founded by men. To put this in perspective, of all the money that startups founded by men have raised, 96% is equity, 3% grants and 1% debt. For women, it’s 50% equity, 35% grants and 15% debt.

We spoke with women founders and stakeholders and included an agenda-focused case study in the report where we explored some of the systemic reasons driving the barriers women founders in health supply chain ecosystems face. A few reasons jumped out, like unequal access to funding, embedded gender bias in selection committees and women-led businesses being perceived as riskier when investing compared to men, even though they’re operating businesses at similar levels.

Fundamentally, grants are still critical in terms of creating more equitable innovation ecosystems because, ultimately, there’s an important role to play for companies that women found.

That’s one of the reasons why the $7 million pan-African health tech initiative Investing in Innovation (I3) was launched last year, right? What’s been the progress on that front?

The first year just wrapped up and 31 different startups were selected and got grants. We are now rolling into the second year, where another 30 companies across Africa will also get selected. The initiative reinforces our point because when you look at the funding sources for these innovators, the Investing Innovation Program, launched just last year, is at the top of that list. It’s the most common source of funding for health supply chains on the continent because they participated in 31 deals, essentially providing grants.

And then, of course, the other grant programs like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (investing directly) and a few equity folks, also stand out. Plug and Play Ventures and Launch Africa are at the top of the list in terms of sources of equity funding. But it highlights the role that grants play and the program itself is designed to place an emphasis first on African founders but also, of course, pay particular attention to startups that women found. In the first cohort, about 48% of the companies selected were founded by women founders and I believe that that same intentional thinking is in place for this year; perhaps it might be taken to an increased and higher level.

What lessons about early-stage startups and partnerships with the government does the research drive home?

Companies that are nascent and early typically focus on serving consumers, but as they grow and achieve more maturity, they have a bit more bandwidth to be flexible. And we see greater diversity in who they serve as they mature, which is why we see many partnerships with government. The I3 program is also striving to introduce startups to governments and, in some cases, to other industry stakeholders, including manufacturers. All of that is important to ensure that the startups can go from where they are early or early at the growth stage to establishing themselves and businesses.

The benefit goes both ways, especially working with governments. One thing we’ve often wondered about or looked at is the government’s disposition to innovation. It’s often perceived as adversarial. That’s the thinking. But here, we see governments by themselves seeking solutions and adopting them.

The general feedback when we engage with government actors was that there’s a lot of interest in how governments view partnerships. It’s still early days. And so the hope and expectation is that over the coming months and years, we’ll see many more partnerships. One thing that’s important to emphasize, in addition to scaling startups, is the real-life benefit and impact of governments using technology in public health systems to ensure safer access to quality medicines. That translates to better positive health outcomes for individuals and jobs, which is fantastic in this ecosystem.

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New clues to age-old illnesses emerge in the gut

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New clues to age-old illnesses emerge in the gut Avatar photo

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July 24, 2023

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Links between the human intestine and diseases such as arthritis are increasingly coming to light and signal that healthy diets can help control illnesses.

By ANTHONY KING

Health in body and mind may well be rooted in the gut.

The trillions of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses in the human body – collectively called the microbiome – vary enormously from person to person. What’s more, the differences can have a big impact on physical and mental health.

Deciphering chatter

Understanding more about the links between the microbiome and chronic illnesses such as diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and obesity is a top European goal, promising new ways to tackle age-old ailments.

‘One really needs to look at the system in all of its complexity, as it exists in nature, rather than just study single strains or even a few microbes in a dish,’ said Paul Wilmes, a microbial ecology professor at the University of Luxembourg.

Through their diet, humans feed a mostly benign zoo of microbes in the gut. In turn, this microbiome affects people’s health by churning out a steady stream of molecules, some of which influence and help regulate the immune system.

Wilmes leads a research project that has received EU funding to investigate differences between healthy and sick people. The five-year ExpoBiome initiative, which runs through October 2025, is identifying communities of bacteria and fungi involved in disease processes.

Parkinson’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis are the focal points.

The gut microbiome is the largest and most important microbial community of the human body.

This community is in constant, complex cross-talk with cells such as those in the liver and brain. The interactions which include previously unknown microbial molecules, reveal surprising links with familiar illnesses.

Parkinson’s puzzle

Parkinson’s disease, for example, is a disorder of the nervous system that causes uncontrollable shaking and difficulties with balance and coordination.

While Parkinson’s is regarded as a brain disorder, there can be early signs in the gut that something is wrong, according to Wilmes.

‘The molecular hallmarks of the disease appear early on in gut nerve cells, well before the classical symptoms involving movement problems appear,’ he said.

Wilmes said it’s possible molecules made by gut bacteria kick off a cascade that eventually spreads to the brain or exacerbate the disease, perhaps by increasing inflammation.

On the other hand, changes to the microbiome could be a consequence of Parkinson’s disease rather than the cause.

In either case, the research being carried out could allow doctors to diagnose the disease earlier in some patients or intervene before symptoms become more severe.

Healthy versus sick

Wilmes, who started his career studying microbes in the environment before being drawn to those in the human body, is now comparing microbiome samples taken from healthy people and sick ones.

‘A combination of diet and taking antibiotics might play a role in shifting our gut microbial community towards the cluster of organisms that we see, for example, in Parkinson’s disease,’ he said.

Wilmes is also studying the impact of the gut on rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune and inflammatory disease in which the immune system attacks a patient’s joints.

Exactly how these microorganisms play a role in the disease is a mystery that he is keen to solve.

‘It might be that a molecule or a mixture of molecules from the microbiome triggers the initial inflammatory response that then goes haywire,’ Wilmes said.

Intestinal ID

One-third of microorganisms in the intestines – the gut microbiota – is common to most people, while two-thirds are specific to each person, according to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory

In other words, the microbiota in the human intestine is like an individual identity card.

In future, the hope is that patients will routinely have their microbiome decoded when they visit a doctor’s office or a hospital.

‘There are thousands of clinical trials going on to try to establish a link between the microbiome and a number of different diseases,’ said Walid Hanna, chief executive officer of a Belgian start-up called Perseus Biomics.

The work requires sequencing the DNA to work out which microbial strains are present.

Hanna and his team are part of a two-year project – Perseus MAP – that received EU funding for 24 months through September 2023 to analyse the microbiome of patients in a way that is cheaper and faster than existing technologies.

Their strategy reduces the quantity of DNA that needs to be decoded by labelling sequences with fluorescent markers and by using an automated microscope to compare the generated light patterns with a database of some 15 000 microbial species.

This will make it possible to decode DNA from a patient’s stool or cell sample within 72 hours.

‘A lot of sequencing technologies today take weeks to get results back on the microbiome of patients,’ said Hanna, who has two decades of experience in the medical-technology sector.

The ultimate goal is a printer-size device able to deliver results quickly to researchers, pharmaceutical companies, personalised nutrition businesses or hospitals.

The new profiling system, DynaMAP™, is due to be released towards the end of 2024, according to Hanna.

The Perseus MAP technology will make microbiome profiling much more accessible and could allow medical experts to spot the beginnings of a chronic disease before it progresses.

Diet lessons

What people eat affects the types of microbes in the gut.

That means gut-microbiome troubles can be addressed through not only drugs but also nutrition, according to Wilmes of ExpoBiome.

A diet high in processed foods or refined sugars tends to favour fast-growing gut microorganisms, which are often implicated in causing disease.

‘The vast majority of the organisms that are beneficial to us are typically slow-growing,’ Wilmes said.

Foods that are preferable because they appeal to slow-growing bugs include the Mediterranean diet, a plant-based cuisine that centres on cereals, vegetables, fruits and olive oil and is rich in antioxidants, fibre and vitamins.

In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, drastic changes in eating habits such as fasting can reset the microbiome in patients and cause the disease to go into remission.

By analysing the DNA sequences in a patient’s gut microbiome, Wilmes is learning more about the types of microbes present in diseases including Parkinson’s and rheumatoid arthritis.

The work will help determine which molecules are involved either in triggering the disease or in protecting against it, enabling better diagnoses and treatments.

‘We need to work out what is a healthy cocktail of molecules in our gut and how we can prevent shifts which trigger diseases,’ Wilmes said.

Research in this article was funded by the EU via the European Research Council (ERC) and the European Innovation Council (EIC).

This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.

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Meet the 4 Major Medical Innovations that can Help to Aid Different Levels of Blindness Avatar photo

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2 weeks ago

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July 13, 2023

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Visual impairments have caused severe limitations to the quality of life for billions of people around the world, but advances in technology and medicine have paved the way for renewed optimism that different levels of blindness can one day be effectively treated through medical innovations.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 2.2 billion people around the world suffer from some form of visual impairment which can range from mild levels to total blindness in impact.

While this can be debilitating for sufferers, the overall financial impact of these impairments can cost over $25 billion in lost productivity for the global economy. This impact, put in business terms, means that solutions through technology can not only transform billions of lives on a human scale, but also be a profitable solution on an economic one.

Advances in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and machine learning have all helped to accelerate the array of treatments available to those suffering from different levels of blindness, and with this in mind, let’s take a deeper look into four of the most significant recent medical innovations that can help to treat visual impairments:

The Rise of Intelligent Eyewear

One of the most significant developments of recent years has been in the field of assistive eyewear. One example of this technology in action can be found in the OrCam MyEye Pro, which is a cutting-edge technology that’s designed to help completely blind wearers by actively analyzing and describing the world around them.

With the help of a small wireless smart camera around the size of an index finger and a magnetic connection to the arm of just about any glasses, wearers can simply point their finger or touch the bar for the camera to capture an image of the environment in their line-of-view.

Once the image has been assessed, the hardwear will audibly describe the environment via a small speaker positioned above the ear.

The device can help to make shopping more straightforward and the reading of bills when out and about.

It’s even possible for the OrCam to memorize and identify hundreds of objects like logos on buildings and other recurring items that you can come into contact with every day. Along with scanning your environment, it’s even possible for the camera to use facial recognition to identify friends and family.

Smart Walking Sticks to Navigate the World

Possessing some similar technological advancements to that of the OrCam, engineers at CU Boulder have managed to utilize artificial intelligence to create a ‘smart’ walking stick to assist visually impaired users.

Designed to replace the traditional walking stick, researchers claim that the smart walking stick could ultimately help blind people to confidently navigate the world around them by assisting them in countless everyday tasks.

“I really enjoy grocery shopping and spend a significant amount of time in the store,” noted Shivendra Agrawal, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science. “A lot of people can’t do that, however, and it can be really restrictive. We think this is a solvable problem.”

Carrying a resemblance to the white and red walking sticks available at Walmart, the smart walking stick utilizes a built-in camera and computer vision technology to identify products. It also maps and catalogs the world around it, and can physically guide users through the use of vibrations in the handle. If, say, a user wanted to buy a tin of soup at the supermarket, the stick would issue verbal directions like ‘reach a little bit to your right’.

This technology can be of particular use to older users who have become accustomed to using walking sticks, and those who may be living with cataracts where if we read more the negative impacts can cause blurred vision that can be assisted with gentle prompts.

Prosthetics that May Evolve to Cure Blindness

While the medtech industry has a habit of overpromising when it comes to developments, the development of a visual prosthesis for blind patients could pave the way for a significant breakthrough in curing vision loss.

Dubbed the ‘Science Eye’, the implant intends to target two forms of serious blindness that have no cure. The technology will evolve to serve as a brain-computer interface (BCI) by transmitting information through the optic nerves of a wearer.

This means that although they wouldn’t be using their eyes to see, the implant could accurately replace their blindness with computer vision.

Powered by the BCI startup, led by former Neuralink president Max Hodak, the endeavor has already raised $160 million in order to commercialize the technology.

Inherited Blindness Restoration in Chemical Treatment

In a collaboration between the University of California, Irvine School of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine, researchers have found that it could be possible to partially restore the vision of those suffering from inherited blindness.

Specifically, the team was examining treatment for Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), which is a term that refers to a group of inherited retinal diseases that form severe visual impairment at birth.

Through administering chemical compounds that target the retina, researchers found that it may be possible to restore a notable amount of vision in children with LCA, having initially found encouraging results in mouse models of inherited blindness.

“Frankly, we were blown away by how much the treatment rescued brain circuits involved in vision,” said Sunil Gandhi, professor of neurobiology and behavior and the corresponding author.

“Seeing involves more than intact and functioning retinae. It starts in the eye, which sends signals throughout the brain. It’s in the central circuits of the brain where visual perception actually arises.”

Although there’s likely to be a long way to go until implants or chemical treatments can help to restore full blindness, it’s clear that technology is evolving in a positive way to improve the lives of the visually impaired. With 2.2 billion people around the world set to reap the benefits of these developments, further breakthroughs will be a major leap for humanity.

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The power of stillness to reduce stress and slow ageing Avatar photo

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1 month ago

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June 23, 2023

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Meditation can curb the risk of disease and boost general well-being for the old and young, according to researchers.

by Alex Whiting

Several minutes of meditation a day can improve people’s physical and mental health and even reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease. So say scientists. Nonetheless, a lack of evidence means health services are reluctant to make meditation available to everyone who could benefit, according to the leader of EU-funded research into the matter.

Push for change

‘I’m convinced meditation is one of the tools that could help make people healthier and happier as they get older,’ said Gaël Chételat, coordinator of the MEDIT-AGEING project.

While the project ended in March 2022 after six years, Chételat hopes the results will help bring about changes in healthcare. She continues to push for them as director of research at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, or INSERM.

By 2050, the global population of people over 60 years old will reach 2.1 billion, according to the World Health Organization.

Chételat and her INSERM team had been studying Alzheimer’s disease and ageing for more 20 years when MEDIT-AGEING began in 2016.

Her own experience with “mindfulness” – a form of meditation that focuses on the present moment by tuning into the breath, sounds or bodily sensations – provided inspiration to look more closely at this area. So did her knowledge of the main risk factors of neurodegenerative diseases.

‘The more I practiced meditation, the more I thought it could be really beneficial to the ageing population,’ Chételat said.

Evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation improves concentration and memory and reduces stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and even the risk of heart disease.

These are all factors linked to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, according to Chételat.

Trial of elders

MEDIT-AGEING’s goal was to provide evidence for health authorities to incorporate mindfulness in their support for the elderly. The idea was that such a step could not only improve older people’s quality of life but also reduce healthcare costs.

Between 2018 and 2020, MEDIT-AGEING conducted the world’s largest and longest trial on the effects of mindfulness meditation on seniors, focusing on people aged 65 years and over.

The 18-month trial divided 137 people into three groups. One learned mindfulness meditation, a second learned English and the third received no training.

Meditation and non-native-language training included two-hour weekly group sessions, practice of 20 minutes or longer daily at home and one day of intensive activity.

Questionnaires, blood tests and scans of people’s brains were used to assess general health and look for signs of chronic stress and Alzheimer’s. Sleep quality was also measured and cognitive tests were used to gauge attention, executive function and memory.

Particular attention was given to two parts of the brain known to be associated with cognition: the anterior cingulate cortex and the insular cortex.

These structures tend to deteriorate with age, increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Meditation may slow this shrinkage as people age, according to Chételat.

Language powers

A strength of the study was the use of the foreign-language learning.

Like meditation, learning a foreign tongue involves cognitive mental training and has been shown to have a positive impact on some brain structures.

The results of the trial confirmed that meditation had a significant effect on people’s attentiveness and ability to regulate their emotions. In the brain scans, however, no significant changes were yet apparent.

While the trial results were published in JAMA Neurology in October last year, Chételat’s team is now testing the 137 participants again in a bid for more insights.

One question is whether some physical changes become visible only when people clock up more meditation time than they did in the trial. A second is whether such changes appear only several years after people have done a chunk of consistent meditation.

Study participants interviewed for a documentary film about the trial said it had changed their lives, relationships with others, understanding of their bodies and acceptance of themselves.

‘Things like that are extremely difficult to measure,’ said Chételat. ‘But what they say is very important, touching and positive.’

The MEDIT-AGEING team is developing an app of mindfulness and compassion meditations for elderly people due to be available as of early 2024.

Student samples

For Ivana Burić, a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, interest in mindfulness emerged while she was recovering from a traumatic traffic accident that led to several surgeries.

Practicing mindfulness not only helped her physical healing but also led to positive knock-on effects in other areas of her life.

Now Burić is leading a two-year EU-funded project called INSPIRER, which is due to end in October.

Using similar tests as MEDIT-AGEING, she is researching mindfulness among university students.

Burić, also a trained mindfulness teacher, says many of the benefits stem from people learning how to manage difficult thoughts or emotions without getting caught up in them.

Practising mindfulness lowers stress levels – with important consequences yet to be fully understood.

It can reduce stress-induced inflammation, which otherwise increases the risk of illnesses including anxiety, depression, asthma, cardiovascular disease, stroke and neurodegenerative disorders.

‘It seems to help with most mental health and many physical problems as an addition to standard treatments,’ said Burić.

Mind-body works

Burić recruited 100 people – 50 meditators and 50 non-meditators – and carried out MRI scans, blood tests for signs of inflammation and questionnaires about the participants’ mental and physical health.

The questionnaire results suggest that meditators have better physical and mental health and emotional regulation – and lower stress levels.

Burić also recruited about 80 students from the University of Amsterdam for a trial on the effects of a standard eight-week introductory course on mindfulness.

‘We wanted to see if we can observe changes in them in that short time and compare them with long-term meditators,’ she said.

Initial results from questionnaires suggest an increase in mental and physical health.

Like Chételat, Burić hopes that scientists will soon have enough proof to persuade policymakers to offer mindfulness to anyone with mental health or chronic health conditions.

She also hopes it will become available in schools, universities and workplaces.

‘Mindfulness meditation works, it’s very simple, it doesn’t cost much money and anyone can do it,’ said Burić.

This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.

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