Why ICT for Health

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) can play a critical role in improving health care for individuals and communities. By providing new and more efficient ways of accessing, communicating, and storing information, ICTs can help bridge the information divides that have emerged in the health sector in developing and new industrial countries, and in other low-resource settings—between health professionals and the communities they serve and between the producers of health research and the practitioners who need it. Through the development of databases and other applications, ICTs also provide the capacity to improve health system efficiencies and prevent medical errors.

HealthConnect International staff has a proven track record in designing and implementing award-winning ICT for health programs. In 2004, the Learning Resource Center (LRC) Project, a program they developed for the American International Health Alliance, was selected as a Finalist in the Stockholm Challenge, a biannual international competition, which recognizes programs that use ICTs innovatively to benefit people, society, and the environment. In building the ICT capacity and infrastructure at over 160 hospitals, clinics, medical universities, and other public health organizations in Eurasia and Africa, the LRC project incorporated a broad range of e-health program components, including access to online research, telemedicine, database and information systems development, community outreach and education, website design, and distance learning.

HealthConnect staff have also supported national health ministries in creating healthcare information systems and other ICT infrastructure projects, created online information clearinghouses for the World Health Organization and the US Agency for International Development, produced e-learning modules, and setup satellite videoconferencing and telemedicine capabilities.