CaMilla: Gender-Sensitive Heart Attack Aftercare

Heart attacks are among the most common causes of death in Germany. Around 200,000 people are affected every year, and about 45,000 cases are fatal. With an ageing population, the number of people who depend on good, long-term aftercare following a heart attack will continue to grow. Older people in particular face challenges. Many have other illnesses besides the heart attack, have to take various medications, and need support in keeping track of their health over the long term. At the same time, gender-specific differences in medical care have so far not been sufficiently taken into account: women and men can differ, for example, in terms of symptoms, disease courses and treatment needs. This is where the CaMilla project comes in.

CaMilla is developing an intelligent digital case management system intended to improve cardiological aftercare for older people following an acute heart attack. The aim is care that responds more individually to the needs and risks of each person – taking age and gender into account.

How does CaMilla work?

The system brings together different health information and analyses it taking age- and gender-specific characteristics into account. On this basis, so-called digital twins can be created. These are digital representations of a patient's individual health situation. They make it possible to simulate possible disease courses and to identify individual risks or complications early.

In this way, medical professionals can be supported in tailoring aftercare more closely to the individual. Another special feature is the natural language assistant: users can interact with the AI-based system by voice. This is intended to reduce digital barriers and help older people use digital services easily and independently.

Developed together – for the people who use it

CaMilla relies on consistently user-centred and participatory development. Affected people, medical professionals and other experts are involved in the development, optimisation and evaluation of the system. After all, digital solutions can only be successful in the long term if they are oriented towards people's actual needs. Data protection also plays a central role: the system is developed and used with particular attention to data-protection-compliant solutions.

Prospects for gender-sensitive healthcare

CaMilla is intended to show how intelligent digital technologies can help make aftercare following a heart attack more individual, earlier and more gender-sensitive. The findings gained and solutions developed in the project are intended to be integrated into cardiological care in the future and also transferred to other medical specialties. In this way, CaMilla opens up new possibilities for health services, health insurers and providers of digital health applications to improve care, use resources more precisely and strengthen gender-sensitive medicine in everyday heart attack aftercare

Project information

Consortium coordinator equeo GmbH, Berlin Christopher Schwinn

Partners August-Wilhelm Scheer Institute for Digital Products and Processes gGmbH, Saarbrücken Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin - Campus Charité Mitte - Institute of Medical Informatics München Klinik gGmbH - Klinikum Neuperlach - Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Munich ki elements GmbH, Saarbrücken

Volume €2.07 million (80% funded by BMFTR)

Duration 11/2025 - 10/2028

Call for proposals Interactive Technologies for Gender-Specific Health (GeGe)