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on eHealth with insights from Gilles Babinet, the French government’s Digital Champion at the European Commission, Professor Fode Abass Cissé, eHealth Observatory award winner in 2018, and Professor Cheick Oumar Bagayoko, Member of the Global South eHealth Observatory expert group.
The crisis has
INTERVIEW
PR. ANTOINE GEISSBUHLER
Chief Medical Officer, Department of eHealth and Telemedicine, Geneva Hospitals, member of the Global South eHealth Observatory expert group
What do we currently know about the potential of ICTs for improving access to healthcare in the Global South?
Digital tools have been introduced to improve health services in developing countries for two decades now, but because there have been so many initiatives, results inevitably vary widely. The challenge today is to learn from our successes and failures by applying
a properly scientific approach to learning. We can only help decision- makers to make the right choices if we can agree on the basic requirements in terms of project long- term sustainability, public
health benefits or the guaranteed digital sovereignty of nation states.
Has the global health crisis impacted this
proliferation of initiatives?
The crisis has very significantly accelerated the development eHealth projects, just as it has for all digital tools.
At the same time, it has also revealed the risk of fragmentation and highlighted the need to unite all those involved around developing a common strategy.
Is that then your aim in joining the Global
South eHealth Observatory expert group?
Absolutely, because it is only by learning from each other that we will avoid repeating our mistakes. Working through the Observatory allows us to join up the efforts of e-health entities with complementary approaches, which could help us to formalise genuinely good practices in digital health. Our ultimate goal is to promote and encourage innovation without losing our way among a confusion of low-impact initiatives. Which is why I am delighted to be involved in the work of the Observatory.
accelerated the pace
of eHealth project
development
GOOD TO KNOW
The health crisis is stimulating the progress of eHealth in Africa
The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to be a powerful catalyst for innovation
and led to the emergence of many new digital health projects in Africa during 2020.
As Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, puts it: “It’s great to see the youthful energy of the continent fired up to fight COVID-19 [...] An opportunity to drive forward innovation, ingenuity and entrepreneurship in life-saving health technologies”.
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