2016 ICT4D Conference

Presenters: Dr Garrett Mehl, WHO; Liz Peloso, PATH  
As the field of ICT for Development grows, governments in low and middle countries face an increasingly confusing diversity of digital health tools and systems, and a lack of guidance on how to review, compare, and assess value within specific ICT solutions for programmatic and data goals. Furthermore, an evidence-based 'systems approach' to integrating these digital strategies into existing health systems, which may already include some ehealth infrastructure, is lacking. As such, there is considerable demand among ministries of health, donors, and decision-makers for interagency tools to guide country-level inventory, review and prioritization of digital health strategies for addressing specific data and health systems needs across health domain areas. This panel will focus on the WHO's new inter-agency work within the Health Data Collaborative, and through the WHO Technical and Evidence Review Group toward building on WHO and PATH Optimize HIS toolkit, to developing a revised and expanded tool for country-level health programme review, and processes for prioritizing the use of ICT to address identified health priorities for achieving and monitoring Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Additionally, panelists will describe country-use of the emergent web-based platform for inventorying and reviewing digital tools and deployments. Highlighting guidance and tools being developed through extensive engagement with thought leaders and government decision-makers, this session will provide a unique opportunity to discuss efforts underway to inform government adoption of digital health information systems for the health SDGs, and mechanisms to guide country-level digital investments from multilateral global development partners in a coordinated way.