PAHO delivers eight-point “call to action” during high-level health ministers conference to advance digitization

Washington, D.C. February 23, 2021 (PAHO) Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa F. Etienne today called on health ministers and officials in the Americas to work toward eight principles in the digital transformation of public health, including achieving universal connectivity.

“We need to take a fresh look at public health, one that is much more holistic and inclusive, that considers new critical factors for the success of interventions, such as connectivity, bandwidth, interoperability, artificial intelligence, among others,” Dr. Etienne said at a high-level virtual conference of health officials. “This renewed approach must also consider inequities in the digital era to ensure that the digital divide does not widen the gaps in health inequities.”

Digital health, in which people and health systems in every country are connected electronically so their health information is easily available and transferable, is important for both patients and health service providers.

The goal of this initiative is to accelerate the digital transformation of the health sector and strengthen information systems for health across the Americas. The principles include creating digital public health goods; accelerating progress for vulnerable populations; global cooperation on emerging technologies; and implementing open, sustainable, digital information systems for health that work with each other.

In her remarks, Dr. Etienne said that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for health systems to be “more resilient, interdisciplinary, intersectoral and interconnected than ever…It may seem obvious, but to achieve the goal of leaving no one behind, first we need to know that this person does exist; we need to know where he or she is, and we need to know what their social and health situation is.”

“It is also imperative to consistently know the state of our health systems and their ability to respond to the particular needs of individuals, their communities and families,” she continued. “And the only way to know this is if we have information systems capable of capturing and processing critical and disaggregated data and making it available to the entire health system without exceptions.”

The conference, which included representatives from countries throughout the Americas, originated from the 2016 Information Systems for Health (IS4H) initiative formed during meetings between PAHO and Caribbean leaders in Kingston, Jamaica. The aim of the initiative was defined as implementing universal access to health and health care coverage by strengthening interconnected information systems that provide high-quality data, strategic information, and digital health tools for decision making and well-being.

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