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Session 4

ICT as a Catalyst for Improving Health

Mr. Karim AbdelghaniProgramme CoordinatorITU Arab Regional Office

Email: karim.abdelghani@itu.int

Arab RDF, Manama, Bahrain, 28 October 2013

ITU Arab Regional Development Forum

للتنمية اإلقليمــــي المنتدي“ICT = I C Tomorrow”

البحرين، – مملكة 2013أكتوبر 28المنامة

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eHealth Overview

The World Health Organization defines eHealth as the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health. In its broadest sense, eHealth is concerned with improving the flow of information, through electronic means, to support the delivery of health services and themanagement of health systems.

Examples of eHealth:

Mobile HealthTelemedicineElectronic Health Records

Health Information Systems

Practice, Patient, Clinical Management Systems

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Benefits and Impact of eHealth

Access to Services

Efficiency Gains in Health Services

Quality and Safety of Care

Health Monitoring and Reporting

Access to Health Knowledge and Education

Operations Planning and Management

Empowering Individuals

Innovation and Growth

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eHealth Components

Leadership and Governance

Strategy and Implementation

WorkforceLegislation , Policy and

Compliance

Services and Applications

Standards and Interoperability

Infrastructure

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Presentation

ITU and eHealthSince 1994, ITU has implemented telemedicine projects in developing countries and organized seminars and workshops on telemedicine in different parts of the world.

Activities:

• Raising awareness about ICTs’ role in improving healthcare delivery in developing countries

• Providing assistance in implementing technical cooperation projects in e-and m-health

• Encourage collaboration between the telecommunication & the health sectors in developing countries to maximize utilization of resources for implementing eHealth

• Disseminate experiences & best practices on ICT technologies’ use in eHealth in developing countries (incl. creating guidelines and training materials on e-Health applications)

• Promote the development of technical standards for eHealth applications and develop guidelines for developing countries on how to use them

• Facilitate the establishment of collaboration platforms that bring together e-Health experts from the industry, academic institutions & NGOs to stimulate cooperation and knowledge sharing

• Encourage cooperation among developing and developed countries in the field of m-health

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Facilitating national eHealth planning

The National eHealth Strategy Toolkit (2012) presents a methodology and set of resources to guide country decision makers to develop their national eHealth strategy and roadmap.

Several countries have already used the toolkit to develop/update/review their eHealth national strategy.

Facilitating eHealth infrastructure planning

The Scaling eHealth Services in step with ICT transformation (2011) provides guidance to e-Health planners on e-Health services that can be deployed immediately with available infrastructure and on which additional services can be added as the infrastructure is transformed according to the needs and constrains of the target demographics

ITU-D Publications on eHealth (sample)

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ITU Facilitating e-health Standardization:

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ITU-T Technology Watch report on e-Health Standards and Interoperability published April 2012

The report explains how rapid advancements in the development of e-health standards must accompany three trends in electronic healthcare in the coming decade:

1. Advancements in healthcare delivery via mobile and wireless eHealth technologies;

2. Personalized medicine, including personal health records, medical diagnostic devices, and biometric records; and

3. Interactive healthcare via social media and Web 2.0 applications.

http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/23/01/T23010000170001PDFE.pdf

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Documenting new ICT ApplicationsM-Government

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• Published a report with OECD on “Mobile Government for responsive governments and connected society”

• The report documents the use mobile technologies to enhance government’s performance, improve public service delivery, and engage citizens and civil society organizations in policy and decision making both in developed and developing countries,

• The report is available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/m-gov.html .

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WHO-ITU NCDs & Mobile Health ITU in partnership with WHO, launched a joint work plan to use mobile

technologies to address the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) burden through scalable mHealth solutions

The initiative targets 8 countries in 4 years in the area of prevention,

treatment and policy enforcement.

The initiative aims at:

Leveraging the mobile platform for health to address Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) and their risk factors that make the largest contribution to mortality and overall disease burden in majority of developing countries

Enhance country capacities to develop and employ mobile technologies and communications channels

Create country level platforms and environment for partnership

Design mHealth for NCD intervention projects

Strengthen capacity of local stakeholders for optimal and efficient use of

available resources

Validate use of mobile NCD projects

Activities on mHealth (sample)

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ICT for improving information and accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health (2013)

Information and communication technology (ICT) and eHealth applications play an essential role in meeting the ten recommendations set by the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health (CoIA). Together, they aim at creating a system to track whether donations for women's and children's health are made on time, if resources are spent wisely and transparently, and whether the desired results are achieved.

This report reviews each of the ten CoIA recommendations, highlighting the contributions ICT applications can provide in their implementation and in fast tracking the fulfillment of the MDGs 4 and 5

ITU-D CYB recent Publication on eHealth

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Thank You

For more information:http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/ICT-Applications/eHEALTH/Pages/EHEALTH.aspx

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