The life equation

Streaming video - 2016

Big Data is being used to analyze and determine healthcare options and billions of people are affected. But what, and who, is lost in the number crunching? THE LIFE EQUATION introduces us to Jose, a new kind of health worker. When he meets Crecencia Buch, a mother of seven with cervical cancer, he faces a daunting question. The price for her treatment is {dollar}10,000 and, at best, it will buy only a few years of life. That money could fund thousands of pap smears -- a cost-effective way of catching cancer early. Should Jose take Crecencia's case on? Across the globe an underfunded hospital in remote Nepal needs a doctor to perform Caesareans. Dr. Shree Ram Tiwari is willing but his expertise does not come cheap. Should the hospital h...ire him? Powerful computers crunch the numbers and choose interventions, an approach embraced by philanthropists like Bill Gates. But others question whether algorithms can truly capture the complexities of global health. Filmed over four years, THE LIFE EQUATION follows two people caught in the number-crunching. We learn of the choices they face, and the choices that are taken out of their hands. more