Regional leaders agree to set e-health policies in East Africa

What you need to know:

Regional health experts resolved in their meeting held in Kigali last week that Easteco should promote incubation of local digital health solutions in collaboration with the EAC secretariat. 

Arusha. Partner states of the East African Community (EAC) that do not have a National e-Health Strategy, have been urged to invest in e-health by developing a national policy in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) tool kit by 2020. 

The process should be spearheaded by the East African Science and Technology Commission (Easteco), the EA Health Research Commission (EAHRC) and national science and technology bodies in the respective states. 

Regional health experts resolved in their meeting held in Kigali last week that Easteco should promote incubation of local digital health solutions in collaboration with the EAC secretariat. 

EAC's Sectoral Council on Health, for its part, was tasked to coordinate the development of regional policies, laws, regulations, guidelines, standards, data security and privacy to facilitate the process. The EAC Regional Centre for Excellence for Biomedical Engineering was directed to conduct a study in the application of e-learning systems for training health professionals.

In order to speed up investments in e-health, the regional e-health workshops, ministerial conferences and exhibitions should be held every two years on rotational basis among the six partner states.

"New technologies that enhanced health care delivery through the use of ICT systems will improve standard of living and increase life expectancy of East Africans", stressed the Uganda second deputy PM and EAC Affairs minister Kirunda Kivejinja when addressing the meeting.

The ministerial meeting and exhibition on regional e-health and telemedicine brought together public and private policy makers, technologists, academia, researchers, medical professionals, NGOs and development partners.