Tran Ngoc Candide, Bigirimana Noella, Muneene Derrick, Bataringaya Juliet Evelyn, Barango Prebo, Eskandar Hani, Igiribambe Raissah, Sina-Odunsi Ayomide, Condo Jeanine Umutesi, Olu Olushayo
WHO Country Office, Kigali, Rwanda.
Rwanda Biomedical Center, Ministry of Health, Kigali, Rwanda.
BMC Proc. 2018 Aug 15;12(Suppl 11):17. doi: 10.1186/s12919-018-0156-3. eCollection 2018.
The use of digital technologies to improve access to health is gaining momentum in Africa. This is more pertinent with the increasing penetration of mobile phone technology and internet use, and calls for innovative strategies to support implementation of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage on the continent. However, the huge potential benefits of digital health to advance health services delivery in Africa is yet to be fully harnessed due to critical challenges such as proliferation of pilot projects, poor coordination, inadequate preparedness of the African health workforce for digital health, lack of interoperability and inadequate sustainable financing, among others. To discuss these challenges and propose the way forward for rapid, cost-effective and sustainable deployment of digital health in Africa, a Digital Health Hub was held in Kigali from 8th to 9th May 2018 under the umbrella of the Transform Africa Summit 2018.
The hub was organized around five thematic areas which explored the status, leadership, innovations, sustainable financing of digital health and its deployment for prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Africa. It was attended by over 200 participants from Ministries of Health and Information and Communication Technology, Private Sector, Operators, International Organizations, Civil Society and Academia.
The hub concluded that while digital health offers major opportunities for strengthening health systems towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals including Universal Health Coverage in Africa, there is need to move from Donor-driven pilot projects to more sustainable and longer term nationally owned programmes to reap its benefits. This would require the use of people-centred approaches which are demand, rather than supply-driven in order to avoid fragmentation and wastage of health resources. Government leadership is also critical in ensuring the availability of an enabling environment including national digital health strategies, regulatory, coordination, sustainable financing mechanisms and building of the necessary partnerships for digital health.
We call on the Smart Africa Secretariat, African Ministries in charge of health, information and communication technology and relevant stakeholders to ensure that the key recommendations of the hub are implemented.
在非洲，利用数字技术改善医疗服务可及性的势头正日益强劲。随着手机技术和互联网使用的日益普及，这一点显得更为重要，同时也需要创新战略来支持在非洲大陆实施与健康相关的可持续发展目标和全民健康覆盖。然而，由于一些关键挑战，如试点项目泛滥、协调不力、非洲卫生人力对数字健康准备不足、缺乏互操作性以及可持续融资不足等，数字健康在推进非洲医疗服务提供方面的巨大潜在益处尚未得到充分利用。为讨论这些挑战并提出在非洲快速、经济高效且可持续地部署数字健康的前进方向，2018年5月8日至9日在基加利举办了一场数字健康中心活动，该活动隶属于2018年变革非洲峰会。
该中心围绕五个主题领域展开，探讨了非洲数字健康的现状、领导力、创新、可持续融资及其在非传染性疾病预防和控制方面的部署。来自卫生、信息通信技术部、私营部门、运营商、国际组织、民间社会和学术界的200多名参与者出席了活动。
该中心得出结论，虽然数字健康为加强卫生系统以实现包括非洲全民健康覆盖在内的可持续发展目标提供了重大机遇，但需要从捐助者驱动的试点项目转向更可持续、更长期的国家自主项目，以收获其益处。这将需要采用以人为本的方法，这种方法是需求驱动而非供给驱动的，以避免卫生资源的分散和浪费。政府的领导力对于确保具备有利环境也至关重要，这包括国家数字健康战略、监管、协调、可持续融资机制以及建立数字健康所需的伙伴关系。
我们呼吁非洲智能秘书处、负责卫生、信息通信技术的非洲各国部委以及相关利益攸关方确保落实该中心的关键建议。
