Why is it in the News?

Achieving one of the three priority areas agreed upon during India’s G20 presidency in 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently launched the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) virtually, a platform for sharing knowledge and digital products among countries.

About Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH):

• The Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) is a network managed by the World Health Organization (WHO), dedicated to enhancing and coordinating efforts for country-led digital health transformation through collaborative partnerships and knowledge sharing.
  • It was launched by the WHO and the Government of India during the G20 Health Ministerial Meeting in Gandhinagar.
• Functioning as a platform for inter-country knowledge exchange and digital product dissemination, GIDH strives to achieve several key objectives through collective action:
  • Assess and prioritise countries' requirements for sustainable digital health transformation.
  • Enhance the alignment of digital health resources and address unfunded priorities at the country level.
  • Facilitate the accelerated attainment of the strategic objectives outlined in the Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2025.
  • Promote capacity building and synergize efforts to support local development, maintenance, and adaptation of digital health technologies to evolving needs.
• Comprising four primary components, GIDH operates as a network of networks:
  • Country Needs Tracker: Tracks and prioritises country-specific digital health requirements.
  • Country Resource Portal: Provides a comprehensive map of available digital health resources within each country.
  • Transformation Toolbox: Shares quality-assured digital tools to support country-led digital health initiatives.
  • Knowledge Exchange: Facilitates the exchange of insights and best practices among member countries.
• GIDH extends support to countries in three fundamental ways:
  • By attentively addressing their needs
  • By fostering resource alignment to prevent fragmentation, and
  • By offering access to quality-assured digital products.
• Membership in GIDH is open to all institutions actively involved in the digital health domain.

What is Digital Health?

• Digital health denotes the utilisation of technology, encompassing mobile devices, software applications, and various digital tools, to enhance health outcomes and streamline healthcare delivery.
• Essentially, it represents an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of technology and healthcare, integrating a diverse array of concepts and innovations.
• This encompasses a broad spectrum of technologies and services, spanning telemedicine, electronic health records, wearable devices, health information exchange, and more.
• Examples of notable digital health initiatives include India’s CoWIN platform and UNICEF's RapidPro and FamilyConnect programs.
• RapidPro, UNICEF’s real-time information platform, serves as a foundational component in its digital health portfolio.
• FamilyConnect, another UNICEF initiative, delivers targeted, lifecycle-based messages via SMS to various recipients, including pregnant women, new mothers, and heads of households.

India Initiatives on Digital Health:

• National Digital Health Mission (NDHM): Designed to establish a comprehensive national digital health ecosystem featuring unique health IDs, electronic health records (EHRs), and a platform for health data exchange.
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM): Aims to develop a digital infrastructure for the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (ABHIM), incorporating health registries, electronic claim processing, and telemedicine services.
• E-Sanjeevani Telemedicine Platform: Enables virtual consultations between healthcare providers and patients nationwide, enhancing access to medical care.
• Jan Arogya Setu App and CoWIN Platform: Offers access to healthcare services, facilitates appointment scheduling, and disseminates COVID-19-related information.
• Digital Aarogya Mitra (DAM): Implements a community health worker program utilising technology for data collection and community-based health interventions.