Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29177101›Full record

ReviewBMJ global health2017

From blockchain technology to global health equity: can cryptocurrencies finance universal health coverage?

Brian M Till, Alexander W Peters, Salim Afshar, John G Meara, John Meara

Erratum issuedAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in BMJ global health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Enhancing Cancer Care through Blockchain Technology.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Brian M TillRobert Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
Alexander W PetersProgram in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Salim AfsharProgram in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
John G Meara
John Meara *Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies could remake global health financing and usher in an era global health equity and universal health coverage. We outline and provide examples for at least four important ways in which this potential disruption of traditional global health funding mechanisms could occur: universal access to financing through direct transactions without third parties; novel new multilateral financing mechanisms; increased security and reduced fraud and corruption; and the opportunity for open markets for healthcare data that drive discovery and innovation. We see these issues as a paramount to the delivery of healthcare worldwide and relevant for payers and providers of healthcare at state, national and global levels; for government and non-governmental organisations; and for global aid organisations, including the WHO, International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group.

Indexed as

health economicshealth policyhealth systems

Identifiers

PMID29177101
PMCPMC5687531

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.