By Mercy Wambui, 13 March 2006

A two-day “ICT for Health” workshop, held from 9 to 10 March 2006 at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa concluded with a set of recommendations on the “immediate need for developing and formulating a national e-Health strategy for Ethiopia”. The strategy will serve as the basis for coordinating and streamlining the various initiatives underway in this sector.

Organized by the Ministry of Health, Ethiopian ICT Development Agency (EICTDA), and the Ethiopian Telecommunication Organization (ETC) in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the workshop offered a valuable forum for the exchange of information on policy considerations and applications on telemedicine and health information management systems and shared experiences, best practices and lessons on the importance of using ICTs to improve health care delivery services. Approximately 300 participants drawn from government, academia, private sector, civil society, regional and international organizations attended the meeting.

The meeting agreed to set up a task force that will concretize the e-health strategy in the coming months and address the linkages needed between e-health and existing policies and regulations.
Participants also reiterated the need to adequately exploit existing ICT infrastructure, including broadband connectivity to launch various eHealth initiatives and telemedicine. “The pipes are in place, what remains is the content for e-services in all socio-economic sectors,” they noted.

It was also agreed that capacity building in e-health and streamlining ICTs in the health educational programmes is required. Emphasis was also laid on the need for security and standardization in health information, in order to preserve the privacy of patients.

In her closing remarks, Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-in-Charge, Development Information Services Division (DISD) reaffirmed ECA’s commitment and support in charting the way forward with regard to the Ethiopia’s national e-health strategy and other recommendations,” adding, “supporting African countries in formulating their national and sectoral e-strategies is one of ECA’s focus areas.”
In a message read on his behalf, H. E. Dr. Tewodros Adhanom, Ethiopia’s Health Minister said, “the ministry will take on board the valuable recommendations of the Conference and work with all partners and stakeholders towards their implementation”.
A National e-Health Steering committee is going to be established with the organisers (ETC, EICTDA, M0H and ECA) and other actors to determine the best way forward in implementing the recommendations of the workshop.

For more on ECA’s activities on ICTs for development, www.uneca.org/aisi/