Context:

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) virtually, a platform for sharing knowledge and digital products among countries.

About Global Initiative On Digital Health (GIDH):

• Four Main Components Of Global Initiative On Digital Health

• Need: While nearly half the world’s population might not have access to health services they need, nearly 90% have access to a 3G connection showing the potential for digital health.
• Support to Countries: Global Initiative On Digital Health (GIDH) will support countries in three ways:
  • By listening to their needs
  • By aligning resources to avoid fragmentation and overlap
  • By providing quality assured products

• Significance Of Global Initiative On Digital Health

• • Democratization of Digital Health Technologies: The platform will help in democratising digital health technologies, especially for countries of the Global South.
  • A Platform for Shared Vision: There is fragmentation and overlap because new tools are built without following common standards or shared vision. GIDH is in the direction of systems that can speak to each other. 
  • Record Maintenance Platform: Health workers should not have to carry different devices for different diseases or have to maintain both electronic and physical records. 

India’s Committed Actions Towards Digital Health

• Global Initiative On Digital Health (GIDH): This GIDH initiative was a key deliverable of India’s G20 presidency and is a testament to the shared goal of digital health.
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission: It creates safe health accounts for all and the teleconsultation platform E Sanjeevni providing 140 million consultations so far.
• CoWIN Platform: It helped to track covid cases digitally, maintaining vaccination drive and issue of digital, verifiable vaccination certificates. 

News Source: The Indian Express