By Moshood Isah
In recent years, there have been discussions to advance digital health innovations in a bid to tackle public health challenges especially in developing countries of the world. This has led to the proliferation of digital innovations in public health in a bid to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This was the focus of discussion at the multi-stakeholder Insight Learning Forum organized by eHealth Africa on Wednesday, 26th July, with the theme "Digital Innovations in Public Health Practice: Lessons and Impact. The forum officially launches an annual country digital health learning event, bringing together professionals and practitioners in the digital and public health sectors to share experiences, insights, and knowledge regarding the use of digital health innovations in public health implementation.
The Executive Director of eHealth Africa, Atef Fawaz stated the relevance of the gathering saying, “it encourages the sharing of ideas and knowledge in a bid to explore solutions that will transform the way projects are being delivered to improve the health sector”. This is in line with Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation that reveals that digital technologies have advanced more rapidly than any innovation in our history; reaching around 50 percent of the developing world’s population in only two decades and transforming societies.
In his own remark, Deputy Director, Programs and Impact in Program Delivery at ehealth Africa David Akpan said “the maiden edition of the forum is to provide a platform for organizations to exhibit their solutions and subsequently, it will lead to potential interoperability, alignment and integration of these solutions.” This according to him will ensure that talks on digital innovations in Nigeria will be as entities rather than individual innovators.
The Global Digital Health Strategy (2022-2025) designed by the World Health Organisation stresses the standard practice that players in the health sector are supposed to help countries achieve. Further emphasizing the role of stakeholders and importance of collaborations like the Insight Forum Pharmacist Murtala Bello, Director, Sokoto State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) said the meeting would present stakeholders with additional digital health solutions from other people so as to pick their interest to effectively utilize it to solve healthcare delivery service challenges.
The Insight Learning Forum presented an opportunity for organizations to showcase digital innovations which have been instrumental in disease surveillance, vaccine delivery in different parts of Nigeria and some parts of Africa. Some of the innovations demonstrated include the Logistics Management System (LoMIS), Vaccine Direct Delivery, enhancing HIV patients care, Laboratory Management Information System (LAMIS), IMMAP, among others.
The forum also featured a panel session where it dissects interoperability of Digital Health Innovations in Public Health across the African Region. The panelists featuring the Deputy Director, Global Health Informatics in ICT Services, Abdulhamid Yahaya from eHA, Evans Ondura, Deputy Country Director DataFi and Emeka Chukwu, Senior Digital Advisor at Health Enabled emphasized the need to ensure a responsible African context sensitive digital solution and the need to develop solutions that distinctly provide solutions or enhance existing innovations.