Dr. Boonchai Kijsanayotin presents AeHIN’s Call-to-Action Strengthening Digital Health Ecosystem in Asia
Bangkok, Thailand–The Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) joined the side meeting on Global Coordination in Governance for Digital Health hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Digital Health and Innovation and USAID at the Prince Mahidol Awards Conference (PMAC) 2024 on January 23, 2024.
Prof. Alain Labrique, Director for Digital Health at WHO, opened the session and presented initiatives that aim to catalyze country-led digital health transformations.
Sherri Haas from the USAID Office of Health Systems (GHTASC) shared the current USAID projects that support transformations.
Dr. Boonchai Kijsanayotin, Chair of AeHIN, presented the AeHIN’s MIND & FILL the GAPS Framework, and the AeHIN Call-to-Action Strengthening Digital Health Ecosystem in Asia. Dr.Boonchai also introduced the “Service-Information-Finance (SIF), the Three-Legged Stool of Successful Universal Health Coverage Implementation Framework” The SIF framework posits that three key health system building blocks: the health service delivery system, the health finance system, and the health information system are closely relate. These components must be designed and developed concurrently, rather than in a linear fashion.
Pak Setiaji, Chief of the Digital Transformation Office (DTO) of the Ministry of Health Indonesia, gave a strong example of good governance. Anastasia Susanto from USAID Indonesia supported this by describing CHISU’s complementary projects to DTO.
Jai Ganesh Udayasankaran, Executive Director of AeHIN highlighted the need for resilience in governance for digital health in countries amidst political and leadership transitions. He elaborated upon “P – People and Program Management” in AeHIN’s Mind & Fill the GAPS Framework explaining the importance of investing in capacity and capability development of the health workforce and the crucial role of digital health program management team in the national digital health programs. He called upon the donors and development partners for a revisit of The Digital Investment Principles/The Principles of Donor Alignment for Digital Health launched in 2018 during the World Health Summit in Berlin.
Dr. Alvin Marcelo, AeHIN Board Member, also attended the side meeting. He said, “The session affirmed AeHIN’s call to action on governance – a key foundation for successful digital health transformation. We look forward to supporting AeHIN members through convergence workshops.”