Mr. Jai Ganesh Udayasankaran discusses convergence and partnerships for digital-in-health in a keynote session

Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) Executive Director Mr. Jai Ganesh Udayasankaran represented AeHIN at the Global Learning Collaborative’s second annual conclave in Singapore on March 11, 2024.

In the keynote session titled “Charting Pathways for Equitable & Resilient Digital Health Ecosystems,” he talked about convergence workshops and partnerships for digital health. He pointed out that “digital health is inherently multidisciplinary and multisectoral, making partnerships and collaborations inevitable,” adding that while everyone is doing something, AeHIN, as a peer-learning network, builds bridges for everyone to work together.

To give a background on how the current digital health fares, Udayasankaran presented the digital disruption index from the DAI Healthcare Study in 2019, showing the stagnation of digitalization in healthcare compared to other sectors due to the increasing demand for the healthcare system and the required need to scale data, digital, and artificial intelligence collaboratively.

From AeHIN’s experience, 10 years ago, there were countries that did not have a national digital health strategy, so AeHIN started working with them to create their national digital health strategies. However, AeHIN now comes across countries with digital health strategies and blueprints, but many have not yet been operationalized, so AeHIN works with them to translate strategy into practice.

To further illustrate the areas that the digital health community needs to work on, Udayasankaran talked about the Global Digital Health Monitor (GDHM), on which AeHIN was a collaborator. He shared data from the State of Digital Health 2023 report by HealthEnabled, which was launched at a side meeting at the 76th World Health Assembly. It showed data that countries need to work on, such as governance, strategy implementation, pre-service digital health training, digital health investments, AI regulations, architecture, and standards for data exchange.

Udayasankaran also highlighted the relevance of capacity building in digital health with on-field opportunities to put skills into practice. In that context, he drew examples of AeHIN organizing webinars on specialized topics and also training members culminating in certifications. However,  these may not prove useful for countries without a defined career pathway in their countries because they may not get the opportunity to put their learnings and skills from these trainings into use. With these challenges in mind, AeHIN started the convergence approach, bringing together ministries, multiple stakeholders relevant to digital-in-health transformation, and partners to align and put digital health plans into practice.

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