Panellists:
Olzhas Abishev, Vice-Minister of Healthcare, Kazakhstan
Hon. Chris Fearne,Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Malta
Zsuzsanna Jakab, Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe
Ellen Trane Nørby, Minister of Health, Denmark
Mark Pearson, Deputy Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Moderator: Ilona Kickbusch, Adjunct professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and director of the Global Health Centre
Abstract:
Digital health plays a significant role in achieving the key public health priorities put forth by the European health policy framework Health 2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by strengthening the capacities of Member States to achieve better, more equitable, sustainable health and well-being for all throughout the life course.
Universal health coverage (UHC) (Sustainable Development Goal target 3.8) encompasses principles of equity and social justice arising from the Health for All movement of the 1970s and enshrined in the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata on primary health care. A renewed commitment to the Declaration was made on its 40th anniversary at the Global Conference on Primary Health Care in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018.
Digital health is a powerful enabler for the achievement of UHC through its ability to:
- extend the scope, transparency and accessibility of health services and health information;
- widen the population base capable of accessing the available health services (including marginalized and underserved populations);
- improve public health surveillance;
- facilitate training of the health workforce; and
- offer innovation and create efficiency gains in the operation of health systems and the provision of health care.
Much has already been said about the role of technology in “disrupting” health, that is, transforming the way in which health services and the information that underpins them are accessed and delivered, and empowering individuals as part of a shift towards integrated, people-centred care. Digital health offers the promise of democratizing health care – ensuring that health services are accessible and affordable to all populations, specifically those most vulnerable and in need.
Ultimately, however, investments in digital health compete for precious health system resources. Piecemeal investment approaches and shifting political landscapes are notorious in leading to costly information technology failures and lost opportunities for health system reform. To maximize the impact of digital health in order to accelerate the achievement of UHC, Member States require a more consistent and standardized approach to the adoption and scale-up of technologies in health. This necessitates a better understanding of how these technologies are managed – in terms of both their governance and financial sustainability – and the establishment of trust among the public and health-care professionals in their use.
In this panel, we will solicit the opinions of some of Europe’s top decision-makers in health to understand the challenges faced in establishing population-wide digital health services, and how they are building the capacity of health systems to harness the promise of data-driven health care. They will share the actions they see as essential for accelerating the achievement of UHC and the 2030 Agenda through efforts to digitalize national health systems and to ensure that “no one is left behind”.