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OVERVIEW ON eHEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE IN AFRICA

OVERVIEW ON eHEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE IN AFRICA. Department of Social Affairs. 10-11 December 2009 Abuja, Nigeria. COMMONWEALTH WEST AFRICAN REGIONAL MEETING ON eHealth USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR HEALTH. Dr. Benjamin Djoudalbaye Department of Social Affairs.

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OVERVIEW ON eHEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE IN AFRICA

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  1. OVERVIEW ON eHEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE IN AFRICA Department of Social Affairs

  2. 10-11 December 2009Abuja, Nigeria COMMONWEALTH WEST AFRICAN REGIONAL MEETING ON eHealth USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR HEALTH Dr. Benjamin Djoudalbaye Department of Social Affairs

  3. INTRODUCTION • eHealth describes the application of information and communication technologies across the whole range of functions that affect the health sector. • Telemedicine is the branch of eHealth that uses ICT such as mobile phone text messages, e-mail and video conferencing to give rural primary health care workers access to specialists in urban academic hospitals.

  4. INITIATIVES • July 2005 the AU Commission adopted Pan African eNetwork project proposal by India • The 1st Pan-African Conference on Telemedicine and e-health (Abuja Nigeria from 19-20 June 2006) • AU-EU Joint Strategy Lisbon 2007 (MDGs, Science, Information Society and Space) • Africa Health Infoway initiative introduce to the AUC in November 2007 by WHO

  5. INITIATIVES(CONT’D) • e-Health and the AU Africa Health Strategy (2007-2015) • AU 2nd decade of education (2006-2015) has recognized the central role of ICT in enhancing the quality of teacher training and the educational experience in general • 11th annual conference of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH) was held in Africa

  6. INITIATIVES(CONT’D) • Bellagio, Italy, two parallel conference sessions (July 13 to August 8 2008). • 1st High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on e-health and Development ,ECSA Mahe Seychelles from 29th September 2008 to 02 October 2008 • 46th ECSA Health Ministers Seychelles , March 2008 endorsed the Africa Health Infoway

  7. HEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE AND AUC PROGRAMMES • The AU Commission adopted Pan African eNetwork project proposal and made recommendations to ensure the viability and the sustainability of the network and the services proposed. • E-health and telemedicine are among the priority actions for cooperation in the framework of the April 2008 Africa-India Forum Summit.

  8. HEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE AND AUC PROGRAMMES (CONT’D) • Pan-Africa eNetWork will connect: 53 Remote Hospitals (Patient end) for Tele-Medicine (a remote hospital in each Member State) to 5 Regional Super Specialty Hospitals in Africa; and 6 Hospitals in India. Inside the African continent, the network will have 1 Hub station connected to 116 VSAT stations for Tele-Education and Tele-Medicine. There are other eHealth programmes supported by the AUC e.g. Telemedicine Task Force

  9. HEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE AND AUC PROGRAMMES (CONT’D) • The 4th Conference of African Union Ministers of Health held in Addis Ababa in May 2009 recommended that a framework for harmonization of eHealth and telemedicine initiatives in Africa be developed by the AUC in collaboration with relevant partners. • A brief of ongoing activities with WHO-Afro on one such initiative (AHI) prepared by the AUC –Social Affairs and submitted to the Regional Director for information and technical advice, an AUC-WHO a technical working group is to be established to coordinate: • Development of a clear roadmap with timeframes and budget for implementation of initial steps for implementation of the AHI Project • Conducting a study to map existing eHealth and telemedicine initiatives on the continent

  10. BENEFITS • Reduction in healthcare costs to individuals, families and the communities; • Increase accessibility of hard to reach populations to quality healthcare; • Reversal of the brain drain; • Improved capacity building for the health workforce; • Improved efficiency and utilization of scarce resources.

  11. CONCLUSION eHealth offers Africa the golden opportunity of catching up with the developed world without re- inventing the wheel.

  12. CAMH4 RECOMMENDATIONS MAY 2009 • Need for harmonisation of existing ehealth & telemedicine initiatives • Public private partnerships, regional and international cooperation will accelerate eHealth implementation in Africa

  13. CAMH4 RECOMMENDATIONS MAY 2009 • Development of a policy framework required to effectively implement telemedicine and e-health initiatives/programmes in Africa, (harmony btn ICT policy and Health Policy) • Given the increasingly important role of telemedicine and eHealth in contemporary healthcare delivery, the subject should be introduced in the curriculum of medical schools

  14. THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !

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