The Digital Health: Planning National Systems (DHPNS) course of the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) cohort was conducted from 19th September until 8th December 2022, with the support of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It was conducted by TechChange using the curriculum developed by USAID, Digital Square, TechChange, and Last Mile Health which was based on the content compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The course included nine self-study modules with once-a-week live deliveries (two hours per session) and a final project group presentation.

A total of 97 participants from 13 countries joined the course. At the end of the course, a total of 72 participants successfully completed the course with a passing rate of 74.23%. Table 1 shows the breakdown of the passers by each country and sector. The 72 passers were from 11 countries, with the most passers from Philippines (14), Sri Lanka (12), Malaysia (11), Thailand (10) and India (9). Majority of them are from the government sector, followed by academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sectors.

A reunion meeting with the Digital Health: Planning National Systems (DHPNS)-AeHIN cohort was conducted via Zoom on 24th January 2023. 

The aim of the reunion meeting was to provide a platform for updates and explore the willingness to form a community of practice (CoP).

Twenty-five alumni joined the reunion meeting and shared their thoughts about how to make use of the certification for the countries and regions. These alumni are willing to join the CoP.

Testimonials

It was one of the best learning experiences I ever had. Well-structured course material, self-paced tools, and a new teamwork platform provided a very sound and perfect learning environment. The examples were very practical and real. In addition, five stars for the training facilitator.

Pratima Mahata

It was great to be part of the first group of 100 participants (South East Asia and West Pacific in terms of WHO region) consisting of government/public sector, academia, NGOs and the private sector.  Hopefully I can apply as a Technical Working Group – DTO team of the Indonesian Ministry of Health to build country capacity for multi-sectoral stakeholders to support Indonesia’s Digital Transformation. At the same time facilitating peer learning, knowledge exchange and resource sharing in my community namely the Indonesian Pharmacy Informatics Association (IPIA).  Congratulations to friends from different countries who completed this 11 week course. Thank you for the teamwork. And, a huge thank you to eHealth Asia Information Network and TechChange partners, with support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and USAID!

Stefanus Nofa

We have a great opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn about Digital Health. I wish I had attended this course four years ago so that I could have better contributed in drafting of the National eHealth Strategy and Costed Action Plan, and drafting of the National eHealth Enterprise Architecture. Nonetheless, it is better late than never!

Mongal S Gurung

I would like to thank you for your support. The course was very interesting, but challenging, but you were always ready for supporting and helping me . I really enjoyed your Zoom Classes tremendously.

Sai Sidhant Mishra

Although the course name says “Planning National Systems” the lessons, methods, and frameworks can be used at all levels of governance – from a university researcher up to regional/national government and even private companies. Successful national digital health systems require all stakeholders to take initiative and engage with one other.

Miguel Aljibe

Theories are best realized through the use of sample cases which made this course very interesting.

Cherrie Esteban

I believe everyone in the digital health field should study this course once if not repeatedly revise the content and refreshen the knowledge. The course is thoroughly planned in terms of content comprehensiveness, flow, representations, and contextualization for the audience.

Zoljargal Lkhagvajav

The Digital Health Planning National Systems is a must-take for government and civil society members who have aspirations for the appropriate use of information technology in healthcare in their countries. It delivers a good baseline of requisite knowledge for the individual to be of help to his/her country’s digital health development.

Dr. Alvin Marcelo

At first I was very hesitant since I was a non-medical staff. I am a Programmer for the Department of Health. But the course was very intuitive and I was able to learn a lot. I learned a lot more than what I expected.

Julius Castro

This course was very eye opening. It breaks down the concept of digital health into sizeable pieces to better shed light on the roots of the problem. Namely, interoperability. We are then taught to build back a more interoperable, and sustainable health system model using the various concepts. All in all, I have gained a new perspective on understanding a health system.

Jonas John