Dr. Alvin Marcelo presenting the Philippines’ and AeHIN’s experiences on standards and interoperability adoption. Photo by Nowel Delis.

Naji, Fiji–The Pacific Health Information Network (PHIN), the Pacific Community, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) co-organized the PHIN Meeting and Technical Workshop from March 24-28, 2025.

Dr. Alvin Marcelo, Treasurer at the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) and Director of the University of the Philippines Manila Standards and Interoperability Lab (UPM SILab), participated in person to present the Philippines’ local experience and AeHIN’s regional perspective on standards and interoperability adoption, highlighting country-network symbiosis through knowledge exchange.

Dr. Marcelo’s presentation included the key digital health interventions in the Philippines linked to AeHIN’s Mind the GAPS Framework, which are areas countries need to work on in planning and implementing their national digital health strategies.

Regarding governance, the Philippines has its Digital Health Steering Committee, Technical Working Group, and expert groups that meet regularly and implement legal and technical frameworks supporting digital health technologies and costed implementation plans.

For architecture, the Philippines adopted the Open Health Information Exchange (OpenHIE) Interoperability Framework as an interim architecture for Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The country also promulgated standardized and interoperable digital health interventions.

On people and program management, the Philippines plans to establish its Digital Health Transformation Office, obtain support from the public and private sectors, and build a group of health information technology staff in Centers for Health Development and healthcare provider networks through capacity-building programs such as digital health literacy training.

In terms of standards and interoperability, they aim to build digital health infrastructure for stakeholders’ use.

Dr. Marcelo also emphasized AeHIN’s commitment to promoting learning, resource sharing, and knowledge exchange. He shared the trainings and workshops that AeHIN supported its members to take, including The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT), Projects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) Foundation and Practitioner Training, the Digital Health Planning National Systems (DH:PNS), HL7 FHIR Proficiency and Certification, and Health Data Governance.

Dr. Marcelo also discussed the AeHIN COIL and its work with CSIRO to strengthen capacity for standards and interoperability in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This work includes training, regional knowledge exchanges and communities of practice, and sandboxing through FHIRlab.

 

PHIN is a non-profit organization supporting its member states to strengthen the Pacific region’s digital health and health information systems initiatives and is a sister network of AeHIN. In 2024, AeHIN and PHIN reconnected to discuss collaboration opportunities, advocate for resilient and digital health systems, and improve health outcomes in Asia and the Pacific.

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