The World Health Organization
(WHO) has released its first guideline on the use of digital health
interventions via mobile phones, tablets and computers.
The guideline has also defined
some of the terms in common use today such as digital health, eHealth, mHealth.
eHealth is “the use of
information and communications technology in support of health and
health-related fields”.
mHealth or mobile health
is “the use of mobile wireless technologies for health”. It is
a subset of eHealth.
Digital health is “the
use of digital technologies for health” and is “a broad
umbrella term encompassing eHealth (which includes mHealth), as well as
emerging areas, such as the use of advanced computing sciences in ‘big data’,
genomics and artificial intelligence”.
WHO has identified 10 ways by
which digital technology can be harnessed to improve people’s health and
essential services. The key recommendations include:
1. Birth
notification via mobile devices: To be used in settings where
the notifications provide individual-level data to the health system and/or a
civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system, and the health system
and/or CRVS system has the capacity to respond to the notifications.
2. Death
notification via mobile devices: To be used in the
context of rigorous research, in settings where the notifications provide
individual-level data to the health system and/or a CRVS system, and the health
system and/or CRVS system has the capacity to respond to the notifications.
3. Stock
notification and commodity management via mobile devices: To
be used in settings where supply chain management systems have the capacity to
respond in a timely and appropriate manner to the stock notifications.
4. Client-to-provider
telemedicine: To be used to complement, rather than replace, the
delivery of health services and in settings where patient safety, privacy,
traceability, accountability and security can be monitored.
5. Provider-to-provider
telemedicine: To be used in settings where patient safety,
privacy, traceability, accountability and security can be monitored
6. Targeted
client communication via mobile devices: To be used for health
issues regarding sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health
under the condition that potential concerns about sensitive content and
data privacy can be addressed
7. Health
worker decision support via mobile devices: To be used for
community and facility-based health workers in the context of tasks that are
already defined within the scope of practice for the health worker.
8. Digital
tracking of clients’ health status and services combined with decision support: To
be used in settings where the health system can support the implementation of
these intervention components in an integrated manner; and for tasks that are
already defined as within the scope of practice for the health worker.
9. Digital
tracking combined with (a) health care worker decision support and (b) targeted
client communication: To be used where the health system can support the
implementation of these intervention components in an integrated manner, for
tasks that are already defined as within the scope of practice for the health
worker; and where potential concerns about data privacy and transmitting
sensitive content to clients can be addressed.
10. Digital provision of training
and educational content to health workers via mobile devices/mobile learning
(mLearning): To be used to complement, rather than replace,
traditional methods of delivering continued health education and
post-certification training.
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President Elect Confederation of
Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania
(CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of
India
Past National President
IMA
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