Weekly Health Digest: Uber Health, Amazon, and Lassa Fever

Uber launches Uber Health, a B2B ride-hailing platform for healthcare

Darrell Etherington

Uber is launching Uber Health, which will help clinics, hospitals, and rehab centers more easily assign rides for their patients. This specific business line of Uber will not require that the rider have the Uber app or a smartphone. Uber Health can be used through landlines and takes into account the specific nature of the healthcare industry and HIPPA compliance.

Amazon is already trying to disrupt health care

Tami Luhby

Even before announcing plans to address rising health care costs for its employees last month, Amazon has been quietly disrupting power in the broader health care sector. Last summer the company launched Basic Care, a line of private-label over-the-counter medicines, many of which are significantly cheaper than those sold at pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens. Amazon is also building a business selling medical supplies to doctors and hospitals.

Lassa fever: The killer disease with no vaccine

Dr. Charlie Weller

Since the beginning of the year, Nigeria has been grappling with an outbreak of Lassa fever, a disease which can lead to epidemic levels and for which there is no vaccine. Lassa is a viral haemorrhagic fever and can affect many organs and damage blood vessels. Normally, there is a 1% fatality rate but in this epidemic it may be as large as 20%.