AeHIN Chair Dr. Boonchai Kijsanayotin, AeHIN Working Council Member Dr. Zoljargal Lkhagvajav, and AeHIN Executive Director Jai Ganesh Udayasankaran at the ODESS Conference 2024

Lavaur – Since 2018, AeHIN has been a committed partner of Fondation Pierre Fabre (FPF) in jointly sharing experiences and insights in eHealth, especially capacity-building efforts. In FPF’s seventh Global South e-Health Observatory (ODESS) conference on 10 October 2024, AeHIN joined the discussion centered on the theme, “Breaking Barriers: Gender Equity in Digital Health.” The event convened digital health field workers, researchers, and institutions to discuss the impact of digital technologies on gender equity in healthcare systems in developing countries.

In his closing keynote,  AeHIN Executive Director Jai Ganesh Udayasankaran stressed, “Health is the focus, and digital is the means.” He emphasized that “digital in health has the potential to improve health equity and access, but it also has the risk of exacerbating gender equities if not intentionally designed and implemented thoughtfully.” He further stressed that while benefits are clear regarding digital health interventions, ensuring that inequities are addressed makes the difference. Acknowledging the gender gap disparity in global health leadership and delivery and digital inclusion, Udayasankaran highlighted the need for a conscious effort to support more women in capacity building. He also mentioned the importance of holistic digital health interventions within an equity framework to mitigate gender bias. Udayasankaran also shared some practical ways to ensure representation of women in AeHIN such as in the network’s membership, Working Council, teams working with collaboration projects with partners, as well as participation in training and conferences.

AeHIN Chair Dr. Boonchai Kijsanayotin took part in formally co-awarding winners of digital health projects at the conference. In awarding Atipan+, a telehealth project for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas in the Philippines, Dr. Kijsanayotin commended the demonstration of the use of digital technology to equalize healthcare opportunities for Indigenous people. Other projects awarded include decentralized healthcare to enable patient access to health data in Thailand, digital solutions to eradicate newborn mortality in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and a digital health platform to optimize primary care in Rwanda.

The livestream for ODESS Conference 2024 is accessible here.

Following the conference, AeHIN Working Council Member from Mongolia, Dr. Zoljargal (Zoey) Lkhagvajav presented the gender aspects of the country’s recent digital health activities during a workshop titled, ‘Gender-intentional Digital Health Interventions and Enablers’ held at Lavaur on 11 October 2024.