International participants from thirteen countries, Hong Kong SAR, and the World Health Organization (WHO) kicked off a new global network to support the use of digital technology in modern healthcare.
The thirteen countries involved in the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) are Austria, Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Italy, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the United States and
the United Kingdom.
The GDHP is an international collaboration between governments, public agencies, and multinational organisations responsible for policy, funding, and delivery of health services to their citizens.
The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Australian Minister for Health, and the Hon Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda, India’s Minister for Health and Family Welfare, welcomed the participants to the inaugural Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) Summit held in Canberra last week.
“Digital Health is the penicillin of our time, with precision medicine and genomics offering opportunities to cure previously incurable diseases and deliver better life saving medicine,” Minister Hunt commented.
He said the partnership will create a common platform for international experts to share knowledge and experiences, to network, and to forecast emerging trends to support the digital health landscape.
Over the coming year, the Global Digital Health Partnership will collaborate on the following topics: 1) connected
and interoperable health care; 2) cyber security; 3) policies that support digital health outcomes; 4) clinician and consumer engagement; and 5) evidence and evaluation of digital health.
A previous document from the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) outlines three work streams:
Policy: Addressing efforts to shape policies, governance and institutional linkages necessary to advance digital
health initiatives.
Clinical and Academic: Covers current and emerging research and collaboration in clinical and academic settings,
promoting research linkages and fostering a clinical environment which empowers patients and minimises clinician burden.
Industry, Technology and Innovation: A forum for sharing developments in technology, aligning standards and supporting the implementation of interoperable systems, and for fostering productive relationships between industry bodies, innovators, and the markets they serve. This stream will also address the development of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, and discuss cybersecurity strategies.
ADHA CEO, Tim Kelsey, added, “Australia and its international partners can learn from each other and share information about what has worked in their health settings, and collaborate on initiatives together that will support digital health systems working more effectively in their countries. The partnership will help deliver actionable policy and program outcomes to both domestic and international agendas,” Mr Kelsey said.
“It is important that guidelines created by governments and other agencies are co-produced with the needs of innovators, industries, clinicians and the community. The GDHP activities should consider the needs and
input of these sectors to improve the delivery of digital health service,” Mr Kelsey said.
