e-Health in Low Resource Settings: The Path to Sustainability
Dear participant.
We are thankful for your
contribution during the workshop and we hope that you have gained new
knowledge and contacts in the area of e-health and sustainability.
Please help us to be better in planning new workshops, by giving us
your reflection and experience from the workshop.
Thank you and Best regards,
the Organization Commitée
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On March 30-31 2009, the workshop ”e-Health in Low Resource Settings: The Path to Sustainability” was held in Stockholm, Sweden. The workshop was organized by Karolinska University Hospital, in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine and Karolinska Institutet, with support from The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER). Ericsson AB, Tandberg AB and Lekab Communication Systems AB sponsored the event.
More than eighty participants from different sectors in Sweden and abroad gathered together for this two-day workshop to discuss challenges and viable solutions for achieving e-health sustainability in low resource settings. Key note speakers, among others including Dr. Najeeb Al-Shorbaji from WHO, Assoc. Professor Richard Scott from University of Calgary and Dr. Krishnan Ganapathy from Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation presented different innovative ways and models for achieving sustainability.
The first day was concluded by group discussions, where real-case projects were presented, challenges for achieving sustainability were analyzed and possible approaches to achieve sustainability were discussed and summarized. Specific projects from Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Bangladesh and Russian Federation were presented.
The second day focused on dissemination of lessons learned through presentations of successful projects that have achieved sustainability, for example: The Telemedicine Expert’s Network for HIV/AIDS Care (presented by Dr. Maria Zolfo) and Betterment of Health Information Flow for Empowerment of Communities in Uganda (by Fred Kakaire)
In conclusion, the process of achieving e-Health sustainability is complex and dependent on factors such as end-user acceptance, local ownership, public-private partnership, human resources, sustainable infrastructure and business models for short- and long-term sustainability.
Fifty-five participants from Africa, Asia and Europe participated through the live web-streaming of the event.
A list of presenters and key notes are available below.
DAY 1 – March 30th 2009
eHealth in Low Resource Settings: Sustainability
Issues
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Director, Knowledge Management and
Sharing,
World Health Organisation, Switzerland
“Sustainable” e-health Solutions: Getting it Right
First Time!
Dr. Richard E. Scott, Associate Professor, University
of Calgary, Canada
Innovative Business Models for Achieving Sustainable
e-health Solutions in Low Resource Settings
[part 1][part 2]
Krishnan Ganapathy, Professor, President and Head
Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation, India
DAY 2 – March 31st 2009
Sustaining e-health Efforts in Low Resources Setting:
the Role and Importance of Professional Societies
S. Yunkap Kwankam, Executive Director
International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH)
Education and Human Capacity Development in Low
Resource Settings: Virtual Patients and Virtual Scenarios for Learning,
Assessment and Clinical Diagnostics in Medicine
Uno Fors, Professor, LIME, Karolinska Institutet,
Sweden
Telemedicine for HIV/AIDS care in resource-limited
setting: the sustainability of the experts’ network
Maria Zolfo, Dr., Institute of Tropical Medicine,
Antwerp, Belgium
HealthNet: Betterment of Health Information Flow for
Empowerment of Communities in Uganda
Fred Kakaire, Project Coordinator, Makerere
University, Uganda
Freedom HIV/AIDS: Fighting Diseases in Developing
Regions through Games
Hilmi Quraishi, Project Director, ZMQ Software
Systems, India
Infrastructure for m-health in Developing Regions:
Sustainable, Affordable and Reliable
Peter Håkansson, Research Engineer, Ericsson Research,
Sweden
The Role of Northern Organizations to Foster
Sustainable e-health Development in Low Resource Settings
Deem Vermeulen, Team Leader, The International
Institute for Communication and Development (IICD)
