Commonwealth News and Information Service (London)
15 May 2008
Faster, more efficient and universal access to health care will be debated at the annual Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting in Geneva on Sunday, 18 May 2008, under the theme of 'E-Health: Challenges and Opportunities'.
On the eve of the World Health Assembly, Commonwealth health ministers, senior officials and delegates from non-governmental organisations will meet to discuss a range of e-health applications and their ethical, legal and infrastructural implications for Commonwealth countries.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will deliver the keynote speech, and Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), will also address delegates.
E-health is becoming increasingly relevant to both developing and developed countries across the Commonwealth, in terms of accessing health care, communicating professional expertise and managing health databases. This meeting will be an opportunity to discuss ideas and share good practice. In advance of the meeting, a Commonwealth-wide research study has reviewed progress to date and identified a series of obstacles to further progress.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, who will open the meeting, states that "our challenge is to harness the potential of technology to support the health sector, particularly in achieving development goals. E-health is for all, and that means it is especially for the poor. It is about equity, and that means it is about overcoming the barriers of inequitable health access based on gender, location, or status. It's also about harnessing cutting edge technology to meet the oldest of development challenges - in effect, creating a digital bridge to cross the development divide."
Mr Sharma will call for renewed efforts in the face of three health-related Millennium Development Goals - on reducing child and maternal mortality, and reversing the spread of AIDS and malaria in particular - whose target dates seem to be slipping by at least a decade.
The WHO defines e-health as 'the transfer of health resources and health care by electronic means'.
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