Since 1995, Taiwan has leveraged technology to shape its national health agenda — and with tremendous success too. First, it was the introduction of B2B (medical institution-to-medical institution, in this case) telemedicine services for improved access to care in remote areas.
Then, the Integrated Circuit (IC) card was introduced, followed by electronic payments. Two decades earlier, they launched a cloud-based central clearinghouse for all clinical services, testing results, and medication, along with an ID-based mobile app to enhance patient awareness of their treatments. Now, the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare is well on its way to implement its digital and AI-driven next generation health information platform to enhance interoperability.
This is a classic and emulation-worthy example of how digital healthcare technology can shape a nation’s health agenda. A World Bank Group’s 2023 report found that Governments that showed significant progress in improving their population’s health had applied digital technology to strengthen their health systems and financing, enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public health strategies, and bring greater inclusion and reach among the underserved and vulnerable.
Clearly, digital health technology is at the core of any national health agenda.
Digital and data as an ‘inequity-buster’ in a nation’s healthcare agenda
As with every region, but more so in the AMEA region, national health agendas focus on four major objectives — prevention of disease, promotion of good health and wellbeing, ensuring delivery of accessible, affordable and quality healthcare, and well-networked and coordinated health care services in which people can play an active role.
Unfortunately, in many instances, these very needs pose as a nation’s biggest challenges, leading to disparities in health outcomes. Furthermore, we also find a lack of coordination between private and public sector providers, administrative complexities, siloed and disjointed data, which leads to a lack of evidence-driven health guidance, and inefficient flows of funds.
Here is where digital and data can play a huge enabling role in enabling governments and public health agencies to demonstrate good stewardship, build capable resources, implement efficient delivery of services, and ensure insights-driven channelising of finance. Technology can
- 1. Help achieve a wider reach to people in remote locations through a hybrid model of virtual and in-person interactions — including patient self-care and patient self-service
- 2. Enable effective use of data to personalize services that people need and want, and deliver them in a cost-effective manner
- 3. Aggregate and share data in real-time with accuracy to support the goals of universal health coverage
- 4. Decision intelligence systems in clinical decisions can expand access to screening and medicines. The same in supply chain predictive systems can enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery at optimised costs.
- 5. Minimise the stress of payments and maximise the assurance of health insurance through mobile technology
- 6. Simplify and lend greater efficiency and productivity to administrative processes and communication
For example, the UAE has already taken significant steps through the National Unified Medical Record (NUMR) program to integrate patient data across public and private healthcare providers, while Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 has telemedicine and electronic health records at its core.
In the Philippines, the eHealth Strategic Framework and Plan is focused on digitising health data for equitable access across islands, and Australia’s My Health Record platform continues to demonstrate the value of centralised, secure patient records for continuity of care.
In a manner of speaking, we saw the acceleration of digital health technology in the manner the AMEA nations responded to the COVID-19 crisis — be it how health care services were delivered, how vaccines were administered, and how emergencies were encountered.
It is estimated that 30 percent of the global data volumes emanate from the healthcare landscape. With governmental agencies having access to multiple sources of data on health — both within and outside the health sector — this is indeed a goldmine to elevate their health agendas.
This is exactly what Vision 2035 of India’s Public Health Surveillance aims to achieve. Keeping data and analytics as the cornerstone, this programme looks to build on opportunities to strengthen prevention, detection, and control of diseases, while assuring subsidies to reduce out-of-pocket expenses for citizens at the bottom of the pyramid. The creation of an Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) and unique health identity number (UHID) are the early steps in shaping India’s national health agenda by leveraging digital technology.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also set out to digitize healthcare data in its ambitious Vision 2030 programme through the integration of electronic health records in clinical practice, and the practice of telemedicine. Similarly, Australia’s digital health strategy emphasizes interoperability and patient-controlled electronic health records to improve both safety and efficiency.
The promise of AI in public health
AI-led technologies can maximise the use of the staggering volumes of data generated by the healthcare industry.
By rapidly analysing large and complex datasets, they can extract tailored recommendations for the right decisions, and enhance the efficiency of many processes and tasks to reimagine public health practice. Imagine automating data analysis for swift identification of potential outbreaks, and apt communication. Imagine accurate monitoring of risk trends through analysis of demographic and environmental data and leveraging this for preventive planning and proactive decisions as part of the health strategy. Imagine the dissemination of right and culturally-sensitive public health communication delivered through AI chatbots on social media platforms for wider reach and easier access.
In the area of environmental health too, AI-powered platforms and tools can monitor air quality to help government agencies take appropriate actions. As new vistas open with this technology, we will also see the reduction in administrative burden on public health professionals — so that they can channelise their efforts and energies of more strategic tasks of policy and programme planning and development — creating greater purpose and motivation.
AI-enabled processes open far-reaching possibilities in healthcare R&D. From discovering new streams in drug discovery to designing clinical trials, building risk models for accurate and proactive identification of at-risk demographics, and in optimising healthcare costs — AI, with the right guardrails, can be a huge gamechanger for healthcare policy setting and practice.
Notably, AMEA countries like UAE and KSA are already investing in AI for predictive analytics in public health, while the Philippines has piloted AI in telemedicine for rural access, and Australia is leveraging AI for drug discovery and remote patient monitoring.
AMEA nations, in particular, stand at an exciting inflection point in their healthcare agendas. An integrated digital healthcare system can unleash tremendous advantages for their citizens in terms of equitable, accessible and high-quality care even amidst challenges of location and socio-economic status. The right strategy, the right technologies and the right collaborations can elevate their public healthcare ecosystem to greater summits of public good.
