WHO/Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will co-host a webinar on 26 March to explore the latest telemedicine frameworks, tools, and best practices. This is the 13th webinar in the Decoding Data and Digital Health series, which addresses digital health topics of importance to countries in the WHO European Region.
Accessible health care for all
Telemedicine has been embedded in health-care delivery since the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating its capacity to improve access, continuity of care, and cost-efficiency. Recognizing the potential of this tool for health systems, health workers and patients, both WHO/Europe and OECD have since released resources supporting the implementation of telemedicine in countries. WHO/Europe’s Support tool to strengthen telemedicine and Telehealth quality of care tool, and OECD’s Leading practices for the future of telemedicine highlight best practices, guiding frameworks, and strategic pathways to embed telemedicine sustainably within health systems.
WHO defines telehealth as the delivery of health-care services, where patients and providers are separated by distance. Telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services. This can include consultations through videoconferencing, remote diagnostic tests, remote patient monitoring or therapy. Telehealth can contribute to achieving universal health coverage by improving patients’ access to health and welfare services, irrespective of where they are, making it an accessible option for those living in remote areas and for people with disabilities.
The 2023 report on the state of digital health in the WHO European Region showed that 78% of the Region’s Member States directly address telehealth in their policies or strategies. However, despite the positive impact, telemedicine adoption and deployment remain uneven. Some of the challenges are posed by a lack of comprehensive guidelines to support telemedicine services.
The webinar
The 1-hour event will invite international experts to discuss the post-pandemic landscape of telemedicine, as well as relevant tools and insights to support countries. Participants will be able to participate in a Q&A session and learn about the benefits and challenges of telemedicine implementation, as well as about proposed actions and policy recommendations. The panel of speakers will include:
- Camille Oms, Telemedicine Lead, Ministry of Health, France
- Ana Luisa Neves, Director, Global Digital Health Unit, Imperial College London
- Damir Važanić, Deputy Director, Croatian Institute of Emergency Medicine.
Ensuring that all populations, particularly vulnerable groups, have equitable access to digital health tools is a key priority of WHO/Europe’s Regional digital health action plan for the WHO European Region 2023–2030 and WHO’s Global strategy on digital health 2020–2025.
The event will be hosted in English and Russian. It is open to the public, including digital health developers, health and care workers, policy-makers, researchers and representatives of advocacy groups. Please use the registration link if you are interested in taking part.
The Decoding Data and Digital Health webinar series is supported by the European Commission (Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety) through the action “Supporting Member States in the WHO European Region in strengthening health information systems and boosting health data governance”.