International Webinar on Digital Health, the New Normal: Innovation and Acceptance in Africa
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INTRODUCTION
Digital technologies have proven to be some of the most efficient and cross-cutting solutions towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since their launch in 2015. However, despite the huge potential they offer to revolutionize and expedite humanity’s progress, levels of widespread digitalization in spheres of life other than entertainment and commerce remain far from achievable. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the Pandemic imposed restrictions somewhat forced the world to go “digital” in every field at a faster pace, particularly in Health, Education and Employment.
The Pandemic has caused disruptions at an unprecedented scale with far reaching consequences in all sectors, especially health. The rapid spread of infection worldwide, overburdened the health systems and also tested their resilience and preparedness for addressing old and new challenges. These not only made virtual healthcare urgent but also further necessitated the use of digital health for catering to the needs of large population. Although the world has come a long way during the last couple of years, the Pandemic and infectious diseases remain a key topic of debate for present and future.
In September 2020, to analyze the Digital Health trends during the Pandemic, COMSATS (Health Programme) in collaboration with CWCDH organized a webinar titled Digital Health in COVID-19: Sharing Experiences of COMSATS’ South Asian Member States to highlight COVID-19 response in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
As a continuation of the aforementioned activity and to assess the post COVID-19 picture of conventional health systems related to digitalization, COMSATS has organized a webinar on “Digital Health, the New Normal: Innovation & Acceptance in Africa” to analyze digital health trends in African member countries before, during and after COVID-19.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The webinar aims to:
i) Assess the post pandemic developments in Digital Health and possible identification of future trends and needs.
ii) Discuss the issues and challenges faced by the digital health stakeholders and to analyze the virtual healthcare trends before and after COVID-19.
iii) Provide a platform to policy makers to share digital health related innovations in COVID-19.
Contact Person
Dr. Azeema Fareed
Additional Director (Health) / Incharge Telehealth
COMSATS Secretariat
Email: drazeema@comsats.org