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11/04/23 Commonwealth Secretariat 1
The CommonwealthThe Commonwealth
53 nationsone community
ECOSOC Africa Regional Ministerial meeting on e-health – use of information and communication
technology for health10-11 June 2009
Accra, Ghana
A presentation by the Commonwealth Secretariat
Addressing e-health policies and strategies in the Commonwealth
by
Dr Joseph Amuzu
Adviser, Health Section
Commonwealth Secretariat
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Where are we?
The May 2008 Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting (CHMM) focused on e-health.
An e-health survey results from the Commonwealth was presented at the meeting.
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Challenges identified in the survey E-health initiatives
varied widely
Isolated e-health
Change management
The scale and time of implementation
Financing e-health
Technological challenges
Ethical Challenges
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Varied e-health initiatives Multiple examples of e-health in health
manpower training, development of HIS
Fewer examples for procurement/logistics, leadership training, clinical service delivery
Initiatives not linked to coherent strategy, uncoordinated, donor supported, mainly with NGOs
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Change managementE-health is “additional work without remuneration”
“We need to perceive technology as an additional tool to facilitate improved efficiency in the delivery of
health care and not as a ‘monster’ waiting to expose us”
“ The need for training for Ministry staff and service providers in computer literacy; the design of new clinical and working practices; user support and project management.
A lot of technophobia among staff and senior officers.
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Financing e-health
Commonwealth countries report that the main financial challenges relate to equipment and telecommunications infrastructure
Projects were financed by a mixture of public and donor funds.
The benefits of e-health for developing countries are well known but the financial costs are not.
Few case studies on the financial costs of e-health in developing countries.
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Predominant issue identified in survey
was patient privacy and confidentiality of medical records
There may be a trade off between improved quality and access versus the risk of reduced security and confidentiality
Intellectual property rights between public and private sectors must be clarified
Legal and ethical issuesLegal and ethical issues
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E-health requires long term planning between Health, Finance and Technology Ministries/sectors
Simpler technology often produces better results
Financial sustainability can be a challenge for e-health
ICT that reaches rural areas may contribute more to MDGs than urban interventions
Lessons LearnedLessons Learned
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10
The CHMM 2008 mandated the Commonwealth Secretariat to work in e-health.
The specific mandates were:
Convene high-level consultations involving Ministers of Health and Ministers with responsibility for ICTs;
Promote the exchange of e-health expertise between Commonwealth countries;
Seek funding to support interventions.11/04/23 Commonwealth Secretariat
1. Ministerial Dialogues
One Dialogue held for Ministers of Health & Ministers responsible for ICT from the East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) region.
The aim was to: Enable ministries for health and technology to
share information and collaborate effectively; Support health ministries in developing realistic,
affordable e-health strategies and investment plans;
Expand e-health capacity and capabilities.
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Outcomes of the Dialogue Ministers identified some issues of concern
ICT and health policies and strategies e-legislation in the ECSA region e-health standards e-health infrastructure Capacity and the need for capacity-building in ICTs
They requested reviews of these challenges They identified priority areas for action and Set up a technical working group on e-health
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The priority actions
Ministers requested the Commonwealth Secretariat and its partners to help:
countries develop their policies and strategies
countries develop guidelines on equipment procurement and ICT sourcing strategy
in designing tools for auditing existing health informatics and telemedicine training
establish health sector-wide training programmes including leadership training on e-health and ICT
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2. The technical working group
The TWG included representatives from Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, WHO/AFRO, AU and was supported by an expert from South Africa.
The TWG was tasked to: review the main approaches to e-health policies and
strategies and to draft a framework for an assessment of the status
of e-health in the region.
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Results A methodology and templates for e-health policies
and strategies developed
A questionnaire for the assessment of the status of e-health developed
It is a tool for auditing existing e-health infrastructure and capacity based on WHO and Bellagio frameworks.
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The methodology The methodology involves bringing
together all stakeholders: Ministries of Health, ICT and Finance, civil society, the private sector mainly telecom companies, doctors and nurses associations and development partners.
The information from the templates proves to be useful in developing the policy and strategy.
The Templates Is based on e-health Strategy Loop
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E-health Strategy Loop
Benefits Realisation Plan
eHealth Investment Plan
Affordability and Finance
Change ICT Possibilities
Leadership
Health and Healthcare Strategies
ICT Priorities Implementation
General Development
Plans
Evaluation Review and Feedback
Capacity
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Leadership
Who are the leaders?
Who should they lead?
What skills and knowledge do they need?
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Change management
Identify stakeholders & needsContinuous stakeholder engagementExplain the changes, the new ways of working new competences
use of technologychanges in procurement modelsincrease need for programme and
project managementmore training
It is a whole organisational culture change
ICT possibilities
Citizens’ and Patients’ Identities
Logistics Information Regional Networks of Clinical Information
Secondary Non-clinical Health Information
eLearning
Healthcare Professionals’ Identities
Clinical Information and Records
Billing and Management
Telecare, Telehealth and Telemedicine
Services
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Rockefeller Foundation - Survey of eHealth Application Prioirities
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Disease surveillance
Mobile health
National systems
Knoweldge access
Decision support
eLearning
Telehealth
Pharmacy
Laboratory
Inventory management
Administration
Top Three Application Prioirities
3. Collaboration with Kenya The methodology and templates for e-health
policies and strategies were pretested by the Kenyan Ministry of Medical Services.
A strategic planning workshop was held in Kenya, taking forward two key issues that arose from the Ministerial Dialogue.
How to frame and develop an e-health policy and strategy for Kenya
Scoping and delivering an e-health readiness review in Kenya.
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Collaboration with ICT suppliers
Cisco Systems is supporting the Commonwealth Secretariat with the Ministerial High-Level Dialogues.
The Health Section is also in discussion with Microsoft to identify collaborative work and funding support for the Secretariat eHealth programme.
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The next steps Strengthen partnerships, working together with
Ministries of Health & ICT, International Organisations, AU, Regional Health Organisations, private sector and civil society.
Initiate the cycle of work taking place in the ECSA region in West African and other regions of the Commonwealth:
Ministerial High Level Dialogues Support continental, regional and country e-health policy
and strategy development processes Support country level stakeholder consultations using the
Commonwealth e-health methodology and templates
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Thank you
The CommonwealthThe Commonwealth53 nations
one community