COVID-19: Digital Health Solutions to Improve the Response
March 19th, 2020 | news
The Global Digital Health Network, known for its contributions to accessibility and sustainability of health outcomes for the underserved, held its first virtual COVID-19 special convening on March 12. The crowdsourcing workshop, co-hosted by IntraHealth and John Snow, Inc, gathered and shared digital resources from the global health community.
The event highlighted advanced technology and lessons from the international development community to answer the question, “How can digital health practitioners use technology to improve the COVID-19 response?”
With participation of more than 300 attendees, including people from donor agencies, governments, and ministries, and health workers and staff from development agencies, speakers suggested solutions for low- and middle-income countries around the world. USAID, WHO, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Kaiser Family Foundation offered tech perspectives.
The meeting began with COVID-19 updates, including the latest information on the effects of rapid spread and the potential for risk reduction. Government health experts discussed national health systems preparation, and highlighted lessons from previous disease outbreaks such as Ebola and H1N1. The workshop included information-sharing and small group discussions on digital solutions.
Conversations featured proven mobile tools that support mass communication for acute interventions and instant infectious disease notifications, including CommCare, AskNivi, and Safiri Smart. Praekelt.org, a mobile technology company, presented its health alert capabilities, data insights, and decision analytics. Also featured was DHIS2 for COVID-19 Surveillance, the University of Oslo’s free open-source tool developed to screen travelers for COVID-19 at designated points of entry.
Check out the full COVID-19 Response Workshop agenda, watch the webinar, and review the detailed list of digital resources that might be useful to countries that are working to contain COVID-19.
