Information and Communications Technologies for Ubiquitous-Healthcare

In most developed and rapidly developing countries, there has been a continual increase in life expectancy primarily due to improvements in public health, nutrition and medicine. However, this is now coupled with aging population demographics and falling birth rates, which when combined, are expected to significantly burden the socio-economic well-being of many of these countries. In fact, never before in human history have we been confronted with such a large aging population, nor have we developed solid, cost-effective solutions for the healthcare and social needs and well-being of the elderly. Here, we will describe an ongoing project in Ubiquitous (U)-Healthcare as a contribution of the application of science and technology for the benefit of humanity, especially the elderly. This project is focused on a smart medical home as a convergence of ubiquitous-health (U-Health) and ubiquitous-environment (U-Environment). The focus of our research is on helping elderly people live a more independent and healthy life as long as possible, in their own home, while being remotely monitored and assisted in an unobtrusive and seamless manner. A schematic overview of the proposed U-health and U-Environment system is shown in Figure 1.