On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, the third ACHC symposium took place in Amsterdam, chaired by Nadine Bol. The main purpose of symposium was to inform both practice and science about the opportunities and challenges of mobile health apps through presentations and interactive discussions. The symposium was made possible by RPA Personalized Communication and The Netherlands Flanders Communication Association.

During the symposium, speakers informed the audience on who uses mobile healthcare applications (Nadine Bol), the effectiveness of mobile health apps for insomnia therapy (Robbert Jan Beun), the accuracy of the Philips Health Watch (Paul Lemmens), a critical reflection on the (im)possibilities of mobile health technology (Steven Vos), how computational models contribute to better coaching in mobile health apps (Michel Klein), and on legal developments regarding privacy and information security in mobile health apps (Anton Ekker). In addition to these speakers, a large number of blitz speakers informed the audience about various recent research findings and ongoing and startup research projects on mobile health apps. Finally, SOA Aids Netherlands launched advies.chat, an online chat box where people can ask chatbots for anonymous advice on sexually transmitted diseases.

The ACHC and the audience in attendance look back at a very successful symposium, in which the interest of the audience caused a lot of interaction between speakers and the public. For those who want to see some of the presentations of the symposium – these can be found following this link.