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Ministers of Health in the East African Community (EAC) will discuss technology solutions in healthcare delivery virtually.
The two-day regional E-Health and Telemedicine workshop, Ministerial Session and Virtual Exhibition was initially scheduled to take place in a Hybrid format in Kampala on 16-17 June 2021, with both physical and virtual participation. It is organised by the East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO).
Commenting on the shift to a fully virtual from the Hybrid meeting planned, Mr Fortunate Muyambi, EASTECO’s Executive Secretary, said: “The National Organising Committee (NOC) in Uganda has been working extremely hard to deliver this event, and we are pleased that technology will allow us to proceed with the deliberations.”
The NOC has representatives from Ugandan ministries and institutions including, the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U); Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Health, Private Sector Foundation, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and the National Council for Higher Education.
The now fully virtual conference will bring together academicians, researchers, technologists, developers and government decision makers to present and discuss existing and new digital technologies for enhancing healthcare in East Africa.
The event will provide an opportunity to share national, regional and global experience in E-health and telemedicine programmes and solutions as well as biomedical engineering. It will provide participants with insights into policy and regulatory systems, infrastructure and technologies, and efficient partnerships to improve healthcare delivery.
The Conference will be graced with opening remarks from Health ministers from 6 EAC Partner States, Secretary General of EAC- Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki and Hon Christopher Bazivamo- DSG Productive and Social Sectors. The keynote speakers will include Dr Amit Thakker, chairman of the Africa Health Business, and Prof Khama Rogo. Dr Richard Gakuba, the founder and managing director of Health Systems Innovations Ltd, will also deliver a keynote address. Founding Partner of BroadReach Corporation, one of the event’s gold sponsors will speak on the Digital Transformation to achieve universal health coverage in Africa. Other Keynote speakers will include Ms Brooke Partridge-CEO Vital Wave.
The meeting will introduce EAC public and private sector decision-makers to solutions that will enable the improvement of healthcare infrastructure and delivery through the use of ICTs.
Discussion topics at the conference will include regional data sharing and implementation policies, the quality of health information products, cross-border access to health services, barriers to e-health adoption, mobile health consulting, and innovation in health information systems.
The conference will also follow-up on the implementation of the resolutions of the second workshop held in 2018.
The Consortium behind the conference consists of the East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO), EAC Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering (CEBE)/University of Rwanda, the EAC Secretariat and the East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC)