Category: Healthcare

In 2021, one in six Australians—almost four million people—have hearing loss, ranging from mild to profound. The statistic is part of the larger global picture reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) that approximately 466 million people live with hearing loss; of these, 34 million are children. In addition, 1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to noise in recreational settings and through personal audio devices. AWS offers services that will help organizations build end-to-end solutions with accessibility in mind and improve day-to-day activities such as social interactions, clinical consultations, live media, and public service announcements.

Alzheimer’s, a progressive brain disease that gradually deteriorates memories and thinking skills, is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, according to nonprofit UsAgainstAlzheimer’s (UsA2). To help address the immense need for brain health information and insights, UsA2 recently launched BrainGuide working with AWS and Biogen. BrainGuide is a first-of-its-kind platform that empowers people with knowledge and resources to take the best next steps in managing their own or a loved one’s brain health.

Data has become a strategic asset. With the right tools, data becomes predictive and makes us agile. Using data-led migrations and advanced data analytics solutions, AWS Partners create repeatable and scalable solutions that provide increased operational efficiencies and profitability for companies, agencies, and governments. The three steps to gaining the full value of data are: migrate data to the cloud data lake, set up an analytics engine, and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including ML and deep learning.

With more than 1,400 different systems that healthcare providers use to run their scheduling, and millions of Chicago residents seeking a vaccine, a unified, citywide rollout for COVID-19 vaccinations is a challenge. Like many municipalities, early in the pandemic, the city of Chicago preferred to offer its residents a centralized find-and-book appointment system for COVID-19 testing, but other priorities and operational challenges prevented this. However, for vaccines, the team leading the city’s COVID-19 vaccination response was determined to deliver a more seamless experience for residents. The city used the Zocdoc Vaccine Scheduler built on AWS.

AWS Training and Certification is now offering a new foundational training course on AWS GovCloud (US) as part of their no-cost training webinar series. Introduction to Governance and Compliance in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions is a training workshop for those looking for a solution to host sensitive data and regulated workloads, or IT professionals just looking to learn more about AWS GovCloud (US). This new live training webinar dives into the basics of how AWS and AWS GovCloud (US) Regions address these stringent security, compliance, and governance requirements.

The AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program makes high-value, cloud-optimized datasets publicly available on Amazon Web Services (AWS). We work with data providers to democratize access to data by making it available for analysis on AWS; develop new cloud-native techniques, formats, and tools that lower the cost of working with data; and encourage the development of communities that benefit from access to shared datasets. Our full list of publicly available datasets are on the Registry of Open Data on AWS. This quarter, we released 28 new datasets including data on SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes, storm surge forecasts, and US census data. Check out some highlights.

Organizations across the public sector are leveraging the cloud to drive their missions forward with cutting-edge innovation. At the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Summit Online, vice president of worldwide public sector and industries Teresa Carlson and vice president of worldwide public sector Max Peterson at AWS shared the latest updates and spoke with leaders who are reinventing what’s possible using the AWS Cloud. Here’s what you missed.

The future of tech is diverse, and AWS Training and Certification is building an inclusive and diverse workforce for the future through accessible cloud education programs for anyone with the desire to learn. We believe when you remove barriers to education, you bring new learners to the cloud and open doors to jobs and long-term careers that people may have thought were out of reach or, in some cases, didn’t even know existed. Public sector organizations are vying for top cloud skilled professionals and have much to gain when we increase the pool of available cloud talent.

We’ve helped multiple nonprofit research organizations advance their COVID-19 research through our AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative, first launched in March 2020. The next round of funding opens today. As we launch the next phase, we are excited to broaden the AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative’s scope and distribute the remaining $12 million this year. We will accept applications through the end of the year, with priority consideration given to applications received before July 31. Check out a few examples of the nonprofit research projects supported by the AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative.

I recently had the opportunity to record the keynote for this year’s AWS Public Sector Summit Online. This year’s keynote theme is “Inspiration Everywhere,” and I can’t wait to share a number of inspiring stories and examples from our customers with you when the keynote airs on April 15. What unites all of the stories is a commitment to achieving mission outcomes with AWS and cloud computing. And while we’ll spend some time talking about the technology, I’ll also share with you the organizational changes that mission owners can drive, today, to move fast, be responsive, and maximize the impact of limited resources.