With the increase of technological progression in today’s society, medicine has evolved to improve patient care with the help of digital health. The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted the prospects of digital technologies, and for the first time, the WHO convened a meeting with experts to discuss the implications technology has on future public health in late October. This panel of experts, named the Digital Health Technical Advisory Group, is composed of professionals with experience in artificial intelligence and health, biomedical progression, virtual reality in healthcare, wearable engineering for technological devices, etc.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, agreed that several governments encounter increasing demands of supplying healthcare to citizens and digital technologies grant solutions to these necessities. Yet, countries need to understand what works for technological health and how to create these digital transformations. The two-day meeting was held in Geneva at the WHO headquarters, and experts agreed on an action plan for the next two years on steps and priorities that must be made, better defining the Digital Health Technical Advisory Group’s role in health. So far, the group has discussed several topics such as the efficiency of digital health, governance of structures for regulations and adoption of technological solutions, ethical implications of health systems, and expanding access to telehealth. Over the next coming year, the organization will meet regularly to ensure the plan is implemented and discuss the results. Future plans that the Digital Health Technical Advisory Group aim to implement include accelerating communication technologies to issue early health warnings, developing predictions of disease outbreaks, and improving coordination and response to these outbreaks through improved technology.
Earlier in the year, the WHO established the WHA71 A71 resolutions which acknowledged that the development and advancement of digital health is necessary but also emphasized the significance of human interactions in medicine. Although technological tools may be beneficial in achieving optimal health, digital images and numbers cannot replace a human care provider. Technology should be integrated into current patient-centered health systems while maintaining the humanistic connections between medical workers and their patients.
Image Source: Busakorn Pongparnit
