India Identified Digital Health As Top Priority, Gained Expertise: UNICEF India’s Chief Luigi d’Aquino

New Delhi: India has identified digital health as one of its top priorities and has gained excellent expertise in developing and implementing digital health programmes, said UNICEF India’s chief of health Luigi d’Aquino on Tuesday (April 18). The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world realise the potential of digital services in improving the availability, accessibility and efficiency of many health programmes, through various applications and initiatives, d’Aquino, who is attending the second G20 Health Working Group meeting, told PTI.

According to him, while considerable progress has been made, the digital health space is evolving fast and many challenges and opportunities need to be explored and addressed. Nevertheless, the evolving tools, vision, and strategies have made it easier for citizens to access digital health services, he said.

For instance, the CoWin app has enabled millions of people to access COVID-19 vaccines while telemedicine has provided essential care to many citizens when access to healthcare facilities was constrained due to the coronavirus pandemic, d’Aquino said.

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UNICEF India’s chief of health said,

At UNICEF, we prioritise children’s rights, including the fundamental rights to life, health and development. Therefore, we actively support and promote digital health initiatives that can assist healthcare workers such as ASHA, ANMs, and nurses. To that end, UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to reconceptualize the Reproductive and Child Health Portal. This will enable healthcare workers to provide real-time data about women and children which can influence planning, decision-making and tracking of the most marginalized or at-risk population and improve health outcomes for children. We also work with various states of India to conceptualise, implement, monitor and scale up digital health solutions that can enhance access to healthy behaviours, practices and services, he added.

The second meeting of the G20 health working group aims to leverage the advocacy power of the forum for consolidation of all the existing initiatives in health emergencies, prevention and preparedness. Apart from India, delegates from 19 G20 member states, 10 countries and 22 international organisations are participating in the meeting.

Also Read: Half Of Health Care Facilities Globally Lack Basic Hygiene Services: UN Report I Health

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.