Thursday, December 16, 2010

Med-e-Tel 2011 6-11 April, Luxemburg


THE INTERNATIONAL eHEALTH, TELEMEDICINE AND HEALTH ICT FORUM For Education, Networking and Business

Med-e-Tel is an official event of the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), THE international federation of national associations who represent their country�s Telemedicine and eHealth stakeholders.

eHealth, Telemedicine and Health ICT are a tool at the service of medical and nurse practitioners, patients, citizens, healthcare institutions and governments. It involves many different stakeholders who need to be brought face-to-face to share aspirations, learn from research and experiences, show the possibilities, understand the market, discover new applications. Med-e-Tel is the meeting place with a proven potential for Education, Networking and Business among a global audience with diverse professional backgrounds.

See more info at Med-e-Tel official web-page

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Cloud technology to combat cancer

ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2010) — Cloud services provided over grid technology are helping to treat cancer patients, thanks to an enormous effort by European researchers working closely with industry.

Cancer is Europe's second largest killer and one of the most difficult diseases to treat. There are dozens of therapeutic protocols designed to respond to the vast diversity of cases that confront doctors.

Radiotherapy has proven a particularly effective treatment. Here a linear accelerator, or Linacs in the jargon, attacks the cancer directly by delivering radiation from several directions. But treatment is complex. The direction, size and duration of dosages are all tailored to each case, and must be recalculated every time via simulation.

It is a phenomenally complicated computation, requiring lengthy processing time, so much so that it can mean delays and this has the knock-on impact of lowering the number of patients who can be treated by each Linacs machine.

Faster diagnoses would help, but the required computing power is expensive, dramatically increasing the Linacs installation and operation costs. It is a critical bottleneck.

Full Story

BEinGRID project (http://www.beingrid.eu/)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Latvia puts ehealth services online

11 Nov 2010

Latvia has made its first eHealth services available online to provide users with information on their own or their family’s medical health.

The information, which is stored in public registers and is accessible free of charge to all Latvians, has been made available online at the national eGovernment portal 'latvija.lv' .

The eHealth services include 'My state-funded health care services’, which uses the current health payments centre’s database and provides users with information on their own or their children's medical visits and diagnoses.

It also includes 'My data in the register of diabetic patients' providing information that is stored electronically in the register of patients with diabetes mellitus.

In addition it provides newborn baby data which is electronically stored in the register of neonatal information systems.

The portal is the main online source of government information for the Latvian state institutions, the local government and the citizens.

So far, 29 eServices have been made available, which are implemented in collaboration with the government and the local authorities.

Sarah Bruce

eHealth Europe

Latvia National eGovernment Portal

E-Health Europe: NHS PHR HealthSpace fails to deliver

17 Nov 2010

Patients have found the government’s personal health record project HealthSpace neither useful nor easy to use and only a tiny percentage have so far signed up for it, according to a study published today.

Researchers led by Prof. Trish Greenhalgh from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry reported that just 0.13% of those offered the chance to open an advanced HealthSpace account had done so and that the functionality was poorly aligned with patient expectations.

The study said patients were disappointed with the amount and type of data available, the need to enter data themselves and the limited options for sharing this data with their clinician.


Read more at eHealth Europe

Friday, November 5, 2010

e-Development - Global CIO Dialogue on the Future of Government Transformation

When: November 8, 2010, 8:30 – 10:45 a.m. Washington DC time

Where: Room J 1 - 050 (701 18th Street, N. W.), RSVP please to edevelopment@worldbank.org

Watch live webcast!

Ask questions or make comments on Twitter (hashtag is #WB-CIO)

This workshop is organized by World Bank ICT Sector Unit as part of the eTransform initiative and will feature a keynote presentation by Mr. John Suffolk, Government CIO of UK, who will share the experience of United Kingdom and will speak of the latest technology trends and how they impact government transformation. This will be followed by a panel discussion with senior government officials and CIOs from leading countries on their vision of how online tools and advanced technology can be used to make government processes more transparent, to encourage informed public participation, to foster collaboration across government and with other sectors of society, and to make government administration more cost-effective during the next 5 years. The panelists will discuss the ways in which the cutting edge technologies, such as cloud computing, web 2.0, mobile technology and open data are pursued as tools for government transformation, as reflected in e-government strategies in their respective countries.

The workshop will also introduce the Moldova Governance e-Transformation project as an example of an innovative government transformation initiative leveraging the latest technologies in the context of a transition country and launched with assistance of the World Bank and other development partners. The high-level participants from invited countries will be offered an opportunity to share their countries perspective and ask questions.

Agenda

08:30 – 08:45 Coffee & Registration

08:45 – 08:50 Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager, Sector ICT Unit, The World Bank

Opening remarks - Introduction of speakers and country audiences

8:50 – 9:05 Keynote Address by John Suffolk, UK Government CIO

9:05 – 9:15 World Bank Project Example: Moldova Governance eTransformation by Stela Mocan, Executive Director of e-Government Center, Moldova

09:15 – 09:45 Panel discussion on the future of government transformation

Moderator: Randeep Sudan, Lead ICT Policy Specialist, the World Bank

Panelists:
James Kang, GCIO, Singapore
Bryan Sivak, CTO, Washington DC
Dona Scola, Deputy Minister of ICT, Moldova
Bill Dorotinski, Sector Manager, Public Sector, Europe and Central Asia, WB (TBC)

09:45 – 10:20 Perspectives and questions from participating country audiences (Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Russia and others, TBD) as well as the Washington audience. Moderated by Deepak Bhatia, Head of e-Gov Applications Practice, Global ICT, The World Bank (TBC)

10:20 – 10:40 Answers and comments from the speakers

10:40 – 10:45 Closing remarks by Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer and Chair of the e-Development Thematic Group, The ICT Sector Unit, the World Bank


Monday, November 1, 2010

Doctors who use EHRs are fiscally better off than paper records users


Medical practices that use electronic health record (EHR) systems are doing better financially than those that are still paper records-based, according to a report by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) in Englewood, Colo. The study found that practices that were not owned by hospitals or integrated delivery systems reported almost $50,000 in greater total medical revenue per full-time-equivalent (FTE) physician than practices with paper medical records. These practices also reported greater expenses, at about $105,000 per FTE physician, but had almost $180,000 greater median revenue per FTE physician than practices with paper medical records. And, after five years of EHR use, independent physician practices had a median operating margin that was about 10 percent higher than physician practices in their first year of using EHRs, the report notes.


Telemedicine and e-Health, October 29,2010

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Why Health Care Is Going Home — NEJM

...In the past century, health care became highly concentrated in hospitals, clinics, and other facilities. But I believe that the venue of care for the future is the patient's home, where clinicians can combine old-fashioned sensibilities and caring with the application of new technologies to respond to major demographic, epidemiologic, and health care trends. Five major forces are driving health care into the home: the aging of the U.S. population, epidemics of chronic diseases, technological advances, health care consumerism, and rapidly escalating health care costs...

Read the full article from NEJM

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Mobile eHealth solutions for Developing Countries

This ITU report highlighted the role of mobile telecommunication technology in health care by offering at a distance the medical consultation and administration of patient treatment.

The preparation of this report is one example of the experience of ITU experts in Mobile eHealth field and their ability to work successfully in cooperation with many other partners from all over the world.

Download full report

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

John Smith Fellowship Programme 2011

The John Smith Memorial Trust is inviting applications to participate in the John Smith Fellowship Programme 2011 to take place over four weeks in June/July next year.

Applications for Fellowships are invited from the following countries:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine

The Fellowship aim to strengthen and deepen awareness of good governance through a four week programme in the UK and placements that show the workings of organisations within a long established democracy. Selection is based on a combination of the leadership potential of the applicant and the quality of the action plan they propose. Action plans are pieces of work or policy problems which the Fellows want to explore while in the UK. The “ideal” candidate will be aged 25-40, working in politics, local administration, business, the media, the arts or civil society, with a track record of achievement in the area of good governance and public service.

Further information about recruitment criteria, application details and deadlines can be obtained from the Trust's website

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

O noua promisiune: Medicamentele se vor ieftini cu 40%, la anul / www.stireazilei.md

Ministerul Sanatatii promite preturi reduse la medicamente de la 20% pana la 40% incepand cu 1 ianuarie 2011. Producatorii care vor opera cu alte preturi decat cele din nomeclatorul de stat al medicamentelor vor raspunde penal.

Reducerea pretului va fi posibila abia dupa ce toti producatorii de medicamente, autohtoni si straini, vor depune declaratiile privind preturile la preparate pentru anul viitor la Serviciul de avizare si inregistrare, care functioneaza din 1 septembrie curent. Seful acestui Serviciu, Serghei Cebotari, a spus ca pana in prezent dosare au depus doar 12 producatori din peste 80.

Cebotari a explicat ca fara declaratia respectiva, agentii economici nu vor putea primi autorizatie de importa a medicamentelor.

Seful Serviciului de avizare a mai spus ca la stabilirea pretului la medicamente se va lua in calcul media costurilor acestui produs in 5 tari din UE si alte 3 din CSI.

Adaosurile de depozitare de 15% si cel al farmaciei de 25% vor ramane, a precizat pim-vicedirectorul Agentiei Medicamentului, Maria Cojocaru.

Potrivit functionarei, in perioada iunie-septembrie a fost inregistrata o diminuare de circa 3% la preturile la medicamente.

In nomenclatorul de stat sunt incluse peste 6000 de produse farmaceutice.


O noua promisiune: Medicamentele se vor ieftini cu 40%, la anul / www.stireazilei.md

Thursday, September 23, 2010

2011 doctoral fellows program for Phd Study in the United States & Canada - 2011 doctoral fellows program

2011 doctoral fellows program for Phd Study in the United States & Canada

DEADLINE: OCTOBER 22, 2010

INTRODUCTION

Network Scholarship Programs (NSP) of the Open Society Institute (OSI) is pleased to announce the 2011 competition for the Doctoral Fellows Program for Moldova and Tajikistan. The Program is designed to provide the highest research & teaching qualifications to individuals positioned to become leading scholars in their disciplines. Upon completion of the degree, fellows are expected to return home to continue or begin academic careers, where they will play an active role in the revitalization and reform of scholarship in the social sciences and humanities.

Up to 12 awards will be offered annually for study in the United States or Canada. Grantees can receive full support for up to 4 years of full-time study. Fellowships are offered in: political science, international relations, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, economics, history, social work, and public health.

Details

For applicant from the Republic of Moldova

XVI Международная школа «Современные аспекты телемедицины»

Российская ассоциация телемедицины проводит прием заявок для участия в работе XVI Международной школы «Современные аспекты телемедицины», которая будет проходить c 24 мая по 3 июня 2011 г. в Москве на базе головного телемедицинского центра ОАО «РЖД» по адресу: Москва, ул. Будайская, д. 2 (станция метро «ВДНХ»). Обучение проводится при поддержке Международной ассоциации телемедицины, Департамента здравоохранения ОАО «РЖД» и Центра современных медицинских технологий «СОМЕТ».
В течение 10 дней слушателям школы будет предложен 72-часовой курс теоретических и практических занятий по телемедицине. Занятия проводятся ведущими российскими и зарубежными специалистами. Успешно прошедшие обучение получат соответствующие сертификаты.
Обучение проводится на русском языке. Лекции зарубежных специалистов из Германии, Франции, Норвегии, Италии, США, Канады и других стран будут сопровождаться синхронным переводом. В ходе школы планируется проведение круглых столов по проблемам использования телемедицинских технологий.
Основные направления работы школы указаны в Приложении 1. Расписание занятий будет рассылаться в апреле.
Количество слушателей школы – 36 (обусловлено технологией обучения).
Обучение ориентировано на организаторов здравоохранения, курирующих создание и работу телемедицинских центров, специалистов в области дистанционного телеобучения врачей и IT-специалистов, обеспечивающих работоспособность оборудования и каналов связи телемедицинского центра.
В ходе обучения слушатели школы с помощью консультантов готовят и защищают проекты телемедицинских центров для своих клиник или телемедицинских сетей для своих регионов/стран.
Часть лекций проводится на базе видеоконференцсвязи. По этой же технологии будет заслушан ряд сообщений российских и зарубежных телемедицинских центров об опыте использования телемедицинских технологий.

Детальная информация и форма заявки (.doc)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Telemedicine and the future of healthcare | Articles | FutureGov - Transforming Government | Education | Healthcare


Thousands of children have benefitted from the telepaediatric service carried out by the University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health in Brisbane. Dr Anthony Smith, Deputy Director of the Centre, talked to FutureGov about the expanding scope of telemedicine and what it means to the future of healthcare.

“Since the service began in November 2000, more than 10,000 telehealth consultations have been carried out for children living in 97 regional and remote areas in Queensland. This amount of activity makes it the largest telepaediatric service ever reported throughout the world,”...


Telemedicine and the future of healthcare | Articles | FutureGov - Transforming Government | Education | Healthcare

BBC News - Non-emergency 111 health number to be piloted


Trials of a three-digit telephone number for those needing non-emergency medical care in England have been launched in the North East.

NHS County Durham and Darlington Primary Care Trusts are to pilot the free 111 number, to act as an alternative to 999, followed by Nottingham, Lincolnshire and Luton.

The government service will not initially replace NHS Direct, but may do so in the longer term if successful...

BBC News - Non-emergency 111 health number to be piloted

Friday, September 3, 2010

HealthLeaders Media: Patient Portals - The New Platform for Health Communications

Many hospital CEOs recognize the strategic importance of deploying digital technologies. This heightened awareness is driven by the reality that 160 million Americans use the Internet for health information, and two-thirds of physicians use the Internet for clinical information (WebMD). In a 2008 Deloitte Survey of Healthcare Consumers, “60 percent [of respondents] want physicians to provide online access to medical records, test results and online appointment scheduling; one in four said they would pay more for the service.”...

Guest Post: Patient Portals — The New Platform for Health Communications

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Healthcare Workforce Shortages

Investment in health IT workforce is an emerging challenge not only by developed, but by developing countries as well.

"The U.S. health care industry is facing two emerging workforce challenges as it prepares to meet demands both from more patients for more care, and from
consumers and regulators for cost, quality and other reforms. The first is the widely documented shortage of caregivers (see “U.S. Health Care Workforce
Shortages: Caregivers”). The other is a growing shortage of health information technology (HIT) workers that is becoming significant as the industry aims to
expand use of electronic health records (EHR), health information exchanges (HIE) and other HIT tools. Evidence of an HIT workforce shortage is coming from at least two sources..."

CSC_US_Healthcare_Workforce_Shortages_HIT.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Medical News: OMG, Texting No Help 4 Adherence 2 The Pill - in OB/Gyn, General OB/GYN from MedPage Today

Sending text messages to remind women to take their oral contraceptive pills doesn't seem to work, according to researchers...
... Most of the women getting text-message reminders said they would at least consider continuing to use the system (86%) and would even be willing to pay a monthly fee for it (57%).

Every patient in both groups rated remembering to take the pill as highly important (median 10 on a scale in which 10 was "the most important thing she can do to prevent pregnancy").

Medical News: OMG, Texting No Help 4 Adherence 2 The Pill - in OB/Gyn, General OB/GYN from MedPage Today

Thursday, August 26, 2010

News from the USAID Global Health eLearning Center




We are pleased to share with you new developments at the USAID Global Health eLearning Center. Please log in soon to see and experience them for yourself!

New home page

Announcing: Certificate Programs

Certificate Programs have been developed to help you focus your learning with a more comprehensive study of key topics in global health. You can earn a certificate in a variety of global health focus areas by successfully completing all courses within one area. As of August 2010 the Certificate Programs include:

* Child Survival
* Cross-Cutting Topics
* Family Planning and Reproductive Health
* Gender and Health
* Health Systems
* HIV/AIDS
* Infectious Diseases
* Maternal Health
* Neonatal Health

Certificates Programs will be expanded as new courses are developed. After logging in, visit the ‘Your Home’ page to see what progress you have already made towards a certificate)!

(Please note that these certificates do not apply to university or college degrees and do not automatically provide continuing medical education credits for health professionals.)

PEPFAR courses

PEPFAR eLearning courses offer state-of-the-art technical and programmatic information to USG staff, implementing partners, and national HIV/AIDS program staff around the world. The goal of the PEPFAR eLearning initiative is to expand the reach, use, and usefulness of critical guidance through courses that combine technical content with program principles, best practices, and case studies. Courses provide concrete examples and stimulate thinking about ways the principles and best practices can be used to solve problems in the field. PEPFAR eLearning courses are developed by a team of experts from PEPFAR agencies and their implementing partners.

The present menu of courses focuses on topics relevant to Strategic Information. Future courses will include topics from across all PEPFAR technical areas. Each course has a defined target audience, which may include both technical and programmatic staff from USG agencies as well as well as implementing partners, national HIV/AIDS program staff, and other collaborators.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Peoples-uni second semester 2010 open for enrolment‏

Semester 2, 2010 is now open for enrolment for new and returning students from developing countries, and will start on September 20th. If you are a potential student, please go to http://peoples-uni.org where you will see enrolment forms for new and returning students. If you are a new student, please note that a requirement for enrolment is to go to 'Are you ready for Peoples-uni?' which you will find at http://courses.peoples-uni.org/course/category.php?id=30, and to send us an email confirming that you are ready to enrol. New modules this semester include 'Evaluation of Interventions', 'Public Health Ethics', and 'Non-Communicable Diseases - CVD and Diabetes'.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Tunstall Healthcare Awarded Framework Agreement from Buying Solutions

Tunstall Healthcare has been awarded a framework agreement for the supply of telecare, telehealth and telecoaching equipment and services to local authorities and NHS organisations. The new framework agreement was awarded by Buying Solutions, the national procurement partner for all UK public services and part of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office. read more

Medical News: Remote Monitoring Benefit Affirmed in Heart Failure - in Cardiovascular, CHF from MedPage Today

Keeping an eye on heart failure patients with remote monitoring technology between visits can improve outcomes, according to a Cochrane review.

All-cause mortality in heart failure patients fell with telemonitoring (RR 0.66, P=0.08), found Sally C. Inglis, BHSc, of Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues.

Heart failure-related hospitalizations dropped with both telemonitoring (RR 0.79, P=0.008) and structured telephone support (RR 0.77, P=0.0001),Cochrane Library ...(read more from Medpage Today)

Medical News: Remote Monitoring Benefit Affirmed in Heart Failure - in Cardiovascular, CHF from MedPage Today

Thursday, July 15, 2010

E-Health Europe: EC tenders for e-health studies

The European Commission is tendering for the production of a study on enhancing procurement of ICT solutions in healthcare.

The call, which closes on 30 July 2010, aims to develop guidelines for healthcare decision makers on how to best conduct planning processes when procuring e-health systems.

It will help to achieve more efficient and effective healthcare through the adoption of ICT in the service delivery process as well as taking into consideration the Lead Market Initiative for e-health and the EC’s Communication on Telemedicine and the European e-health action plan.

The study will see researchers identify and analyse the challenges hindering the procurement of e-health systems and then find possible approaches for tackling those challenges.

The Commission plans to develop guidelines for on how to use ICT to achieve strategic healthcare goals.

The study will analyse ten e-health procurement initiatives carried out in the 27 Member States of the European Union, as well as Norway, Iceland or Switzerland.

However, it will focus specifically on the implementation of region-wide electronic health record systems and the use of telehealth in specific chronic disease management programmes run at regional level or in wide local areas.

The EC has also announced a separate call for researchers to explore and analyse relationships between emerging ICT and the development and use of assistive technologies and e-Accessibility.

The study will aim to assess whether there is an obvious relationship between ICT and assistive technologies as well as looking at relevant trends and challenges.

In addition the Commission requires the study to elaborate and discuss a series of hypothetical scenarios on the future development of assistive technologies and provide recommendations for research priorities and policy measure that can be used at European level.

The study will be carried out over the next twelve months with responses to the call being submitted by 25 August 2010.


E-Health Europe :: EC tenders for e-health studies

© 2010 E-HEALTH-MEDIA LTD.

Friday, July 9, 2010

iPath MD - CONFERINŢA „CALITATEA ÎN SĂNĂTATEA PERINATALĂ”

În perioada 3-4 iunie 2010 în sediul Academiei de Ştiinţe a Moldovei şi-a desfăşurat lucrările Conferinţa regională cu participare internaţională „Calitatea în sănătatea perinatală” organizată în cadrul proiectului Moldo-Elveţian de Perinatologie, faza a doua (2008 – 2011).
Conferinţa s-a desfăşurat în strânsă colaborare cu partenerii din Elveţia. Centrul Internaţional de Sănătate, Institutul Tropical şi de Sănătate Publică din Basel a fost reprezentat de patru specialişti: dna Adriane Martin Hilber, liderul actual al proiectului, dl Manfred Zahorka, liderul proiectului în perioada 2006-2009, dl Marc Blunier, expert pe Telemedicină şi dispozitive medicale şi dna Joelle Schvartz, asistent de proiect. În calitate de invitaţi ai Conferinţei au fost prof. Michel Berner, şeful departamentului de pediatrie al Spitalului Universitar din Geneva şi dna prof. Irene Hoesli, şefa departamentului de obstetrică şi ginecologie a Spitalului Universitar din Basel.
La Conferinţă au participat de asemenea directorul Institutului de Perinatologie din Birmingham, Marea Britanie, prof. Jason Gardosi şi dna Kate Morse, moaşă şi specialist superior al Institutului.
Comitetul Executiv al Federaţiei Internaţionale de Obstetrică şi Ginecologie (FIGO) a fost reprezentat de prof. Wolfgang Holzgreve.
La conferinţă au fost invitaţi specialişti din domeniul perinatologiei din regiune: 7 specialişti din România şi 12 din Ucraina, 3 specialişti din Republica Transnistreană, precum şi 105 specialişti din republică, mai cu seamă din centrele perinatologice de nivelele III şi II, instituţiile asistenţei medicale primare.
Printre partenerii naţionali prezenţi la Conferinţă au fost: USMF „N. Testemiţanu”, CŞPSPMS, Direcţia Sănătate a mun. Chişinău, Asociaţiile Medicale Teritoriale mun. Chişinău.
Scopul Conferinţei a fost de a contribui la împărtăşirea experienţei acumulate în republică, în regiune şi la nivel internaţional în asigurarea serviciilor de calitate în perinatologie, de a trasa direcţii noi precum şi de a fortifica succesele obţinute în domeniul calităţii asistenţei perinatale.
Direcţiile principale de derulare a Conferinţei au fost:
1. Utilizarea tehnologiilor de comunicare pentru ameliorarea calităţii
2. Abordări interdisciplinare în ameliorarea calităţii
3. Depăşirea provocărilor la nivel instituţional (managementul calităţii)
4. Aspecte ale moşitului
5. Îmbunătăţirea calităţii prin aplicarea ghidurilor practice
Discutarea indicatorilor pentru ameliorarea serviciului perinatal

iPath MD - CONFERINŢA „CALITATEA ÎN SĂNĂTATEA PERINATALĂ”

Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program enrollement open

The Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program (PHIFP) is a 2-year applied fellowship for professionals with a master's or higher degree.

To apply for PHIFP, you must:

  • Meet both the educational and professional requirements
  • Be willing to commit to a 2-year full-time program
  • Be willing to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia
More at CDC web-site

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

What is news in the eHealth Intelligence Report? Tuesday 22 June 2010

www.who.int/goe/ehir
for CONFERENCES & EVENTS . CALLS FOR ABSTRACTS . TRAININGS AND SEMINARS . SOCIAL MEDIA visit our website
22 June 2010
FEATURED: mHealth
How Mobile Phone Technology Can Fight Maternal Mortality (UN Global News and Views)
Maternal mortality remains a major challenge to health systems worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every minute, at least one woman died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, about 585,000 women each year. To make matters worse, for every woman who dies in childbirth, 20 more suffer injuries, infection or disease (about 10 million women each year). And 4 million babies die before they are 30 days old. Millions more die from diseases such as malaria that has largely been eradicated in the developed world.....
In the fight against maternal mortality, ICT can critically reduce the incidence of maternal death numbers by: facilitating access to information and healthcare services, and reaching women with information to prevent unnecessary deaths and complications. Also, with the expansion of wireless networks, mobile technology is an important ally. It's the most rapidly adopted technology in history and represents an exciting opportunity to "reach the unreached".
:: Full Article

::
Related Link: Barriers and Gaps Affecting mHealth in Low and Middle Income Countries: Policy White Paper (May 2010 - The Earth Institute)
Picture (Device Independent Bitmap)
Source:CAMI 10 June 10
Scientific Articles
:: Definition of Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0: A Systematic Review (J Med Internet Res 2010;12(2):e18)
During the last decade, the Internet has become increasingly popular and is now an important part of our daily life. When new "Web 2.0" technologies are used in health care, the terms "Health 2.0" or "Medicine 2.0" may be used. The objective was to identify unique definitions of Health 2.0/Medicine 2.0 and recurrent topics within the definitions.

::
E-health integration and interoperability based on open-source information technology. (Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2010 May;122 Suppl 2:3-10)
The first relevant and frequently cited definition of E-health was published in 2001. "E-health is an emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business, referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. In a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development but also a state of mind, a way of thinking, an attitude and a commitment to networked global thinking, to improve health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technologies."

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Getting seamless care right from the beginning - integrating computers into the human interaction. (Stud Health Technol Inform. 2010;155:196-202)
The digital age is coming to the health space, behind many other fields of society. In part this is because health remains heavily reliant on human interaction. The doctor-patient relationship remains a significant factor in determining patient outcomes. Whilst there are many benefits to E-Health, there are also significant risks if computers are not adequately integrated into this interaction and accurate data are consequently not available on the patient's journey through the health system.

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Sentinel e-health network on grid: developments and challenges. (Stud Health Technol Inform. 2010;159:134-45)
Grid technologies have proven their capabilities to settle challenging problems of medical data access. The grid ability to access distributed databases in a secure and reliable way while preserving data ownership opened new perspectives in medical data sharing and disease surveillance. This paper focuses on the implementation challenges of grid-powered sentinel networks within the e-sentinelle project. This initiative aims to create a lightweight grid dedicated to cancer data exchange and enable automatic disease surveillance according to definition of epidemiological alarms. Particularly, issues related to security, patient identification, databases integration, data representation and medical record linkage are discussed.

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Setting core standards: privacy, identity & interoperability. (Stud Health Technol Inform. 2010;156:32-9)
This position paper focuses on strategic developments and underlying concepts emerging out of the standards and associated domains. It addresses the issue of personal privacy in the wider context of interoperability across an ever-growing range of e-health and social care support systems and processes. These will increasingly be driven by major growth in the elderly segment of national populations where unambiguous identification of both patients and care staff both in hospitals and the community will become significant issues. This is particularly so where remote patient monitoring and access control to personal data is concerned, and is further complicated where racial, cultural and linguistic barriers are prevalent.

::
Sharing Health Data for Better Outcomes on PatientsLikeMe (J Med Internet Res 2010;12(2):e19)
PatientsLikeMe is an online quantitative personal research platform for patients with life-changing illnesses to share their experience using patient-reported outcomes, find other patients like them matched on demographic and clinical characteristics, and learn from the aggregated data reports of others to improve their outcomes. The goal of the website is to help patients answer the question: "Given my status, what is the best outcome I can hope to achieve, and how do I get there?"

::
Online Communication Between Doctors and Patients in Europe: Status and Perspectives (J Med Internet Res 2010;12(2):e20)
Use of the Internet for health purposes is steadily increasing in Europe, while the eHealth market is still a niche. Online communication between doctor and patient is one aspect of eHealth with potentially great impact on the use of health systems, patient-doctor roles and relations and individuals' health. Monitoring and understanding practices, trends, and expectations in this area is important, as it may bring invaluable knowledge to all stakeholders, in the Health 2.0 era.

::
The Next Public Health Revolution: Public Health Information Fusion and Social Networks (July 2010, Vol 100, No. 7 | American Journal of Public Health 1237-1242)
Social, political, and economic disruptions caused by natural and human-caused public health emergencies have catalyzed public health efforts to expand the scope of biosurveillance and increase the timeliness, quality, and comprehensiveness of disease detection, alerting, response, and prediction. Unfortunately, efforts to acquire, render, and visualize the diversity of health intelligence information are hindered by its wide distribution across disparate fields, multiple levels of government, and the complex interagency environment. Achieving this new level of situation awareness within public health will require a fundamental cultural shift in methods of acquiring, analyzing, and disseminating information. The notion of information "fusion" may provide opportunities to expand data access, analysis, and information exchange to better inform public health action.

eHealth Worldwide
:: Africa: Funding to Create Telehealth Network (Federal Telemedicine News - 16 June 2010)
The World Bank approved $63.66 million to create a regional network of 25 public health laboratories across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. The network operating across country borders, will improve access to diagnostic services so that vulnerable populations in cross border areas will be able to make optimal use of internet and mobile communications.

::
Australia: Australia to get optional EPR (eHealth Europe - 11 June 2010)
The Australian Government has announced plans to spend €331m (£275m) over the next two years to provide an electronic patient record for every citizen. The plans, outlined in the government's 2010-11 budget papers, show that each patient that opts into the plans will have a summary of their health information held electronically.

::
Croatia: Primary healthcare practices going paperless (ePractice.eu - 17 June 2010)
'Paperless Practice' is a project for the computerisation of primary care practices in Croatia. Its purpose is to streamline the healthcare system, reduce costs and establish a single and uniform data collection system, so as to promote health and prevent diseases. The project is worth HRK 55 million (approx. €7.6 million). The contract for upgrading the national primary healthcare IT system covers the maintenance, installation and implementation of new functionalities in the already existing Croatian primary healthcare IT system. It plans to connect a large number of primary care actors thanks to the computerisation of key business processes and the introduction of new ways of working that will enable a more effective and efficient functioning of the system.

::
Czech Republic: Personal health records orderable and easily accessible online (ePractice.eu - 14 June 2010)
The use of these electronic health records (EHR, in English - eZk, in Czech) is becoming standard for both the general public and healthcare professionals. The new online registration method is fast, simple and entirely free of charge - and so is the record keeping. A few days after completing the online registration form, the users will receive by traditional mail the codes needed to access their eZk. Before the first connection to their eZk, they must set up their personal password to be able to view their health record, fill out their personal details and write notes.

::
Estonia: Patient opportunities in the estonian electronic health record system. (Stud Health Technol Inform. 2010;156:171-7)
Estonia is the first country which has implemented a nationwide electronic health record system and gives full access to its citizens. This provides new opportunities to citizens, healthcare providers and e-health developers. Combining health data, citizens' self added health and welfare data, decision support and possibilities of service oriented architecture of the Estonian Electronic Health Record System - a new era of e-health services can begin.

:: Estonia: Rules and Access Rights of the Estonian Integrated e-Health System. (Stud Health Technol Inform. 2010;156:245-56)
There should be a clear understanding that when implementing an electronic health record system (EHR), one of the hardest problems we have to solve is the access rights. In Estonia this process lasted for three years and involved all stakeholders of the healthcare sector. Special ethical committee was established to advise the decision makers and doctors to help them understand the ethical dilemmas from the patient's and society's point of view. In this article you will find a short overview of the access rights of the system, roles of the healthcare systems' employees.

::
Europe: eHealth usage patterns of European general practitioners: A five-year (2002-2007) comparative study (8 June 2010 - Int J Med Informatics)
This paper provides a five-year (2002-2007) comparative segmentation analysis of how the Internet and dedicated health networks are used by European general practitioners (GPs) and the extent to which external factors affect their use of various eHealth services.

::
Europe: EU launches 27 health IT projects (eHealth Europe - 17 June 2010)
The European Union has launched 27 e-health projects this year following a call under the EU Framework Programme 7 (FP7). The Seventh Research Framework Programme, which runs until 2013 with a budget of €50 billion, has launched projects in three key areas; ICT for personal health systems, ICT for patient safety, and international cooperation on virtual physiological human.

::
Malawi: Health Institutions in Malawi Implement Digital Information System (IICD - 7 June 2010)
The system was set up by request of the Nkhoma Synod Health Department. The department was impressed with the IICD-supported HMIS system in Tanzania. With the support of IICD's Tanzanian partners, the system was implemented in Malawi.

::
US: A Call to Promote Medical Innovation (The Council for American Medical Innovation - 10 June 2010)
The Council for American Medical Innovation (CAMI), launched in 2009, has brought together leaders in research, medicine, public health, academia, education, labor, and business, who are working in partnership to encourage public policies that advance medical innovation and the development of lifesaving treatments, enhance job growth, and promote patient access. CAMI believes leadership in medical innovation is a key part of America's economic recovery, future prosperity and health.

Opinions
:: BioMed Analysis: Conventional innovation isn't enough (SciDev - 17 June 2010)
Innovating for health is about more than drug development. It means new ways of delivering and using existing technologies, says Priya Shetty. Innovation is the driving force of progress, without which efforts to improve global health will always fall short of the mark, irrespective of how many millions of dollars are pumped in. It has been encouraging that for some time there has been support for stimulating innovation to tackle diseases of the poor in developing nations. But conventional health innovation can be a risky business. Investigating a new drug or vaccine can cost millions of dollars and frequently ends in failure, ....

:: IT's Return on Investment Is Tricky to Pin Down (Hospital and Health Networks - June 2010)
As the rush intensifies to meet mandates for more health care information technology, hospitals must ensure they are getting solid returns on IT investments. Calculating accurate ROI, however, can be difficult. The problem is, hospitals typically measure ROI from a business perspectivecost, revenues or operating efficienciesbut many benefits of clinical applications fall into quality and safety realms that do not easily translate into dollars.... "If the project is strategic in nature or a government mandate, ROI calculations are limited," says Denver Health Chief Information Officer Gregg Veltri.

:: Does the Internet Make You Smarter? (Wall Street Journal - 4 June 2010)
Ushahidi, the Kenyan crisis mapping tool invented in 2008, now aggregates citizen reports about crises the world over. PatientsLikeMe, a website designed to accelerate medical research by getting patients to publicly share their health information, has assembled a larger group of sufferers of Lou Gehrig's disease than any pharmaceutical agency in history, by appealing to the shared sense of seeking medical progress.

::
The doctor's in-box (Los Angeles Times - 7 June 2010)
Experts say using e-visits enables doctors to respond more quickly to patient concerns and keep in-office slots open for those who really need to see a physician in person. ...."Not all issues require face-to-face visits," says Dr. Kevin Pho, an internal medicine physician at Nashua Medical Group in New Hampshire and author of the popular medical blog, Kevinmd.com. "Face to face visits are inconvenient for the patient and expensive, and I think health insurers are starting to realize that compensating for e-visits can not only be a cost-saving measure but can also help with patient care."

::
Doctors and Hospitals Say Goals on Computerized Records Are Unrealistic (The New York Times - 7 June 2010)
One of most revealing assessments came from Dr. Thomas H. Lee, president of the physician network at Partners HealthCare. "Effective use of electronic health records will greatly improve patient safety, quality and efficiency," Dr. Lee said in a letter to Medicare officials. But he said the approach taken by the administration was based on "unrealistic expectations" and "unachievable timelines."

For more information, please contact ehir@who.int . Related links www.who.int/ehealth



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Friday, June 18, 2010

Mobile Health Expo - Home October 2010

Mobile Health Expo brings all the stakeholders in the industry together to create business opportunities, discuss issues, create partnerships and innovate. The stakeholders range from: Carriers, Operators, Technology Companies, Health Care Providers, Insurance Companies, Application Developers, Public Policy Drafters and Implementors, Military Personelle, Consumer Advocacy Groups, Community Service Initiatives and more.

Thousands of the world’s leaders in healthcare, technology and public policy come together for the 3 day-long Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. This premier event provides you the opportunity to hear about the latest advancements in Mobile Health through educational sessions, innovative technology presentations, new product launches and networking events. Learn new concepts, get answers to questions about the industry, and bring your ideas to life.

Location and date: Las Vegas Convention Center - October 19-21, 2010

Mobile Health Expo - Home

New courses @ Global Health eLearning Center

USAID's Global Health eLearning Center is pleased to announce the release of four new courses:
  • Cervical Cancer Prevention (Low-Resource Settings)
  • Gender and Reproductive Health 101
  • Commercial Private Health Sector Basics
  • Antimicrobial Resistance Part I

Log in at www.globalhealthlearning.org for free access to these courses, or to take the other 36 courses currently available!

See you online,

The Global Health eLearning Center Team


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Digital Agenda - Europa Information Society

The Digital Agenda is Europe's strategy for a flourishing digital economy by 2020. It outlines policies and actions to maximise the benefit of the Digital Revolution for all. To achieve these goals, the Commission will work closely with national governments, concerned organisations and companies.

Digital Agenda - Europa Information Society

Friday, June 4, 2010

E-Learning in Africa? – Part 1 International HR Forum

Authors:
Han van der Pool – TNT N.V.
Lex Lindeman – HRBoosters

A growing number of African Countries are now connected to high-speed internet connections, and with increasing competition in the global economy, organizations are forced to look for more efficient and effective ways to create, spread and to apply functional and managerial knowledge.

E-learning and knowledge management have become key words in organizational learning processes in the Africa as well. Many organizations invest in managing the knowledge within the organization and e-Learning, as a supporting tool, is used more and more.



E-Learning in Africa? – Part 1 « International HR Forum

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Cadrul FP7 şi oportunităţi pentru Moldova

În cadrul săptămânii dezvoltării TIC la Academia de Ştiinţe din Moldova a avut loc un workshop cu privire la posibilităţile de aplicare în Programul Cadru 7 al Uniunii Europene.
Programul Cadru 7 al Uniunii Europene pentru cercetare şi dezvoltare tehnologică (PC7) este principalul instrument pentru finanţarea cercetării ştiinţifice în Europa şi se derulează în perioada 2007-2013.

PC7 este succesorul PC6 şi are un buget de 53,2 miliarde euro pentru cei şapte ani, repartizat în patru programe specifice: COOPERARE (care facilitează colaborarea între industrie şi mediul academic pentru a obţine dominarea în zonele tehnologice cheie) - 32,4 milioane euro; IDEI (care sprijină cercetarea de bază la frontierele ştiinţei, implementată de Consiliul European de Cercetare) - 7,5 milioane euro; OAMENI (care sprijină mobilitatea şi dezvoltarea carierei atît pentru cercetătorii din Europa, cât şi pentru cei din afara ei) - 4,7 milioane euro; CAPACITĂŢI (care ajută dezvoltarea capacităţilor de care are nevoie Europa pentru a deveni o economie înfloritoare, bazată pe cunoaştere) - 4,1 milioane euro. în afară de cele 4 programe specifice principale, prin intermediul PC7 mai sunt finanţate Acţiunile Centrului Comun de Cercetare (care asigură asistenţă ştiinţifică şi tehnică, în conceperea, dezvoltarea, implementarea şi monitorizarea politicilor Uniunii Europene) - 1,7 milioane euro şi cercetarea nucleară (Programul Euratom - 2007-2011, care dezvoltă capacităţile de fisiune şi fuziune nucleară ale Europei) - 2,7 milioane euro (pentru detalii: http://cordis.europa.eu).

PC7 are drept scop de a contribui la dezvoltarea economiei şi societăţii bazate pe cunoaştere în Europa, prin consolidarea Spaţiului European de Cercetare. Participarea la PC7 este deschisă unei game largi de organizaţii şi persoane - universităţi, centre de cercetare, corporaţii multinaţionale, IMM-uri (întreprinderi mici şi mijlocii), administraţii publice, persoane fizice din orice parte a lumii. Se aplică diferite reguli de participare, în funcţie de respectiva iniţiativă de cercetare.

TEHNOLOGIILE INFORMAŢIEI Şl COMUNICAŢIILOR (TIC) continuă să fie motorul principal al modernizării economice şi sociale. Astfel, statele membre au alocat pe durata PC7, 9.1 miliarde € în scopul finanţării cercetării în domeniul TIC, făcând din aceasta cea mai importantă temă de cercetare a programului specific Cooperare, care constituie în sine cel mai important program ştiinţific al PC7.

TIC joacă un rol important în consolidarea inovaţiei, creativităţii şi competitivităţii în toate sectoarele industriale şi de servicii. Intrăm într-o nouă fază de dezvoltare care va duce la creştere şi dezvoltare durabilă în deceniile care urmează; totuşi, această creştere va fi realizabilă numai în măsura în care investim începând de acum în cercetarea şi în inovaţia legată de următoarea generaţie de tehnologii.

Beneficiul pentru cetăţeni:

TIC deschid numeroase oportunităţi pentru cetăţenii şi consumatorii Europei şi cei din afara ei. Există o mare varietate de aplicaţii incluzând prevederi pentru îngrijirea sănătăţii, sistemele de transport, precum şi sistemele interactive inovative pentru recreere şi învăţare. Inovaţiile în TIC pot contribui la îmbunătăţirea procesului de prevenire bolilor şi la siguranţa îngrijirii medicale, pot facilita participarea activă a pacienţilor şi pot oferi o îngrijire personalizată. De asemenea se pot rezolva probleme asociate cu îmbătrânirea populaţiei.

Beneficiul pentru cercetători:

În cadrul PC7, activităţile de cercetare în domeniul TIC acoperă priorităţi strategice în domeniile dezvoltate din punct de vedere industrial şi tehnologic în Europa, cum ar fi reţelele de comunicaţie, computerizarea aplicată, nano-electronica şi tehnologiile pentru conţinutul audiovizual. Domeniile de cercetare includ:

  • Stabilitatea şi securitatea infrastructurii reţelelor şi serviciilor;
  • Performanţă şi siguranţa sistemelor electronice şi a componentelor;
  • Sisteme personalizate de TIC;
  • Managementul conţinutului digital.

Beneficiul pentru sfera de afaceri şi întreprinderile mici şi mijlocii (IMM):

TIC sunt responsabile pentru aproape jumătate din câştigurile în productivitate ale economiilor actuale. Câştigurile sunt datorate atât bunurilor şi serviciilor bazate pe TIC cu o mare valoare inovativă, cât şi îmbunătăţirii proceselor de afaceri prin difuzarea, adoptarea şi utilizarea TIC în întreaga economie. Sectoarele care utilizează în mod intensiv TIC includ; producţia industrială, automotoare, sectorul aerospaţial, farmaceutică, echipament medical, sectorul agroalimentar, precum şi servicii financiare, media şi comerţul cu amănuntul. Beneficiile raportate de societăţile comerciale, ca rezultat al unei utilizări crescute a TIC, includ o dezvoltare mai rapidă a producţiei, reducerea costurilor şi a cheltuielilor, tranzacţii mai rapide şi mai sigure, relaţii mai bune cu clienţii şi furnizorii, nivele perfecţionate de servicii şi sprijin pentru clienţi şi oportunităţi crescute de colaborare. PC7 caută să faciliteze crearea de noi forme de desfăşurare a aplicaţiilor şi proceselor economice prin reţea precum şi noi abordări din domeniul ingineriei pentru aplicarea TIC în producţie.

OPORTUNITĂŢI DE PARTICIPARE ÎN PROIECTE PC7 PENTRU REPUBLICA MOLDOVA

Participarea la PC7 nu este individuală, ci este condiţionată de realizarea unui consorţiu format din mai multe ţări, care să fie coordonat de o instituţie aparţinând spaţiului european (ţări-membre UE sau asociate la PC7). în acest context, având în vedere că analiza tematicilor pentru participare va fi realizată de către un panel internaţional, necesită justificarea temelor propuse atât din punct de vedere ştiinţific cât şi regional (prin indicarea unor potenţiali parteneri regionali) ca şi dimensiunea europeană a subiectului propus în concordanţă cu politica Uniunii Europene în domeniul cercetării.

În comunicarea Comisiei către Consiliu şi către Parlamentul European „Un cadru strategic european pentru cooperare ştiinţifică şi tehnologică internaţională” (lansat la Bruxelles, 24.9.2008, COM(2008) 588 final) se salută şi încurajează intensificarea cooperării ştiinţifice şi tehnologice internaţionale şi promovarea accesului universal la TIC, în special cu ţările din Politica Europeană de Vecinătate (PEV).

În Republica Moldova, Academia de Ştiinţe a Moldovei reprezintă instituţia gazdă a Punctelor Naţionale de Contact pentru PC7, iar Institutul de Dezvoltare a Societăţii Informaţionale găzduieşte Punctul Naţional de Contact pentru domeniul TIC al PC7. Aceste Puncte Naţionale de Contact au rolul de a informa, consulta şi asista potenţialii candidaţi în procesul de înaintare a proiectelor la PC7.

REFERINŢE UTILE:

1. Pagina web a Comisiei Europene pentru PC7: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/;
2. Informaţie detaliată despre domeniul TIC în PC7: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/;
3. Căutarea partenerilor şi a propunerilor de parteneriat în TIC: http://www.ideal-ist.net/.


Angela Bivol, MD, PhD

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Call for Papers: Medicine 2.0 Europe Conference


Medicine 2.0 is the annual open, international conference on Web 2.0 applications in health and medicine, also known as the World Congress on Social Networking and Web 2.0 Applications in Medicine, Health, Health Care, and Biomedical Research.

This conference distinguishes itself from "Health 2.0" tradeshows by having an academic form and focus, with an open call for presentations, published proceedings and peer-reviewed abstracts (although there is also a non-peer reviewed practice and business track), and being the only conference in this field which has a global perspective and an international audience (last year there were participants from 18 countries).
An academic approach to the topic also means that we aim to look "beyond the health 2.0 hype", trying to identify the evidence on what works and what doesn't, and have open and honest discussions.

Participants are invited to either submit a 500 word abstract to propose a 15 minute single-presenter talk, or can submit a a 500 word panel proposal to present or discuss a topic in a 45-60 min session with 3-4 colleagues from other organizations/institutions (panel proposals with all authors from the same institution or organization are not permitted). Panel presentations are the preferred format for non-research presentations. Proposals for stands or poster presentations may also be submitted.

Submissions:
Author registration opened - January 14, 2010
Author registration closed - May 31, 2010
Call for Abstracts posted - March 23, 2010
Submissions accepted - April 15, 2010
Submissions closed - May 31, 2010

For further information and registration, please visit:
http://www.medicine20congress.com


Source: eHealthNews.eu

Sunday, May 2, 2010

ITG Colloquium 2010

The global health scene is still largely dominated by Northern stakeholders. We want to encourage “Emerging Voices” from developing countries to participate actively in international academic conferences and to raise their voice in the scientific debate.

That's why we are organizing our essay competition. We want to give junior or 'emerging' voices from the South the opportunity to present new ideas on how to progress towards universal health coverage.

The authors from the best essays will be invited to Antwerp to participate in an intensive training workshop (2-10 November 2010) before presenting their work at the ITM colloquium.

They will also be encouraged to participate in the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (Montreux, Switzerland, 16–19 November, 2010).

A certain number of travel grants will be awarded for those who need it.

Take a look at the essay competition rules for more information on how to participate.

Source: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Universal Health Care

Monday, April 26, 2010

Global E-Health Forum - Hamburg 2010

25-26 October 2010, Hamburg, Germany.
The Global E-Health Forum has been conceived to create a unique opportunity to discuss potential solutions in patient-centric health management. The past three Baltic Conferences on E-Health (2007-2009) have generated considerable interest in countries far beyond the Baltic Sea Region. The reason is simple: Healthcare systems all over the world are facing very similar challenges. Demographic shifts, increased burden of chronic diseases and expensive treatments as well as the impact of globalization - to mention some of the most important ones. Therefore, organisers of Baltic Conference on E-Health have decided to found the "Global E-Health Forum". The Global E-Health Forum will replace the Baltic Conference on E-Health

Source: e-HealthNews.EU
Direct link

Saturday, April 24, 2010

UN E-Government Development Knowledge Base: Global Reports - Global E-Government Development Report 2010

The report presented various roles for e-government in addressing the ongoing world financial and economic crisis. The public trust that is gained through transparency can be further enhanced through the free sharing of government data based on open standards. The ability of e-government to handle speed and complexity can also underpin regulatory reform. While technology is no substitute for good policy, it may give citizens the power to question the actions of regulators and bring systemic issues to the fore. Similarly, e-government can add agility to public service delivery to help governments respond to an expanded set of demands even as revenues fall short.

Since the last edition of the survey, in 2008, governments have made great strides in development of online services, especially in middle-income countries. The costs associated with telecommunication infrastructure and human capital continue to impede e-government development. However, effective strategies and legal frameworks can compensate significantly, even in least developed countries. Those who are able to harness the potential of expanded broadband access in developed regions and mobile cellular networks in developing countries to advance the UN development agenda have much to gain going forward.


Source: e-Practice EU
Direct link: United Nations E-Government Development Knowledge Base: Global Reports - Global E-Government Development Report 2010