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Block-HPCT: Blockchain Enabled Digital Health Passports and Contact Tracing of Infectious Diseases like COVID-19
Md Mamunur Rashid1, Piljoo Choi1, Suk-Hwan Lee2
1Department of Artificial Intelligence Convergence, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Korea.
Insights
This study introduces Block-HPCT, a blockchain solution for secure digital health passports and COVID-19 contact tracing. It enhances trust and transparency in public health responses.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Blockchain Technology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has strained global healthcare systems, particularly in resource-limited settings.
- There is a critical need for secure and transparent systems for managing health data and tracking infectious disease spread.
- Existing surveillance and healthcare systems struggle to cope with the demands of large-scale epidemics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a novel blockchain-based system for managing digital health passports and contact tracing.
- To leverage blockchain's immutability and transparency for enhanced trust and accountability in public health responses.
- To address the challenges faced by healthcare institutions during infectious disease outbreaks.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a smart contract (SC)-based solution named Block-HPCT.
- Utilization of blockchain for preserving digital health passports (DHP) for vaccine recipients.
- Integration of proof-of-location for credible contact tracing (CT) and secure data management using IPFS and Hyperledger Fabric.
- Incorporation of trusted oracles for on-chain/off-chain data connectivity and symmetric key encryption for security.
Main Results:
- The Block-HPCT system demonstrated satisfactory performance across key assessment criteria.
- Successful testing of the digital health passport preservation and contact tracing functionalities.
- Privacy and cost analyses indicated the viability of the proposed solution.
- The system effectively connected on-chain and off-chain data with enhanced security.
Conclusions:
- The proposed blockchain-based approach offers a practical and secure solution for digital health passports and infectious disease contact tracing.
- Block-HPCT can significantly improve the response mechanisms of healthcare authorities during epidemics.
- The findings suggest potential for widespread adoption in similar public health scenarios requiring robust data management and tracking.
Abstract:
Due to its significant global impact, both domestic and international efforts are underway to cure the infection and stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading further. In resource-limited environments, overwhelmed healthcare institutions and surveillance systems are struggling to cope with this epidemic, necessitating a specific strategic response. In this study, we looked into the COVID-19 situation and to establish trust, accountability, and transparency, we employed blockchain's immutable and tamper-proof properties. We offered a smart contract (SC)-based solution (Block-HPCT) that has been successfully tested to preserve a digital health passport (DHP) for vaccine recipients; also, for contact tracing (CT) we employed proof of location concept, which aids in a swift and credible response directly from the appropriate healthcare authorities. To connect on-chain and off-chain data, trusted and registered oracles were integrated and to provide a double layer of security along with symmetric key encryption; both Interplanetary File System (IPFS) and Hyperledger Fabric were merged as storage center. We also provided a full description of the suggested solution's system design, implementation, experiment results, and evaluation (privacy and cost analysis). As per the findings, the suggested approach performed satisfactorily across all significant assessment criteria, implying that it can lead the way for practical implementations and also can be used for similar types of situations where contact tracing of infectious can be crucial.
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