New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said India’s collaboration with the WHO on the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) is a testament of the country’s shared commitment towards transforming the digital health ecosystem. The GIDH is a WHO managed network which was unanimously adopted by all G20 countries, invited countries and international organisations and collectively launched as a key deliverable of India’s G20 presidency during the health ministers’ meeting in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on August 19, 2023. Mr Mandaviya virtually addressing the public launch event of the World Health Organisation’s Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH), said,
Our collaboration with the WHO on the GIDH is a testament of our shared commitment towards transforming the digital health ecosystem.
He added,
Under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration of the G20 Summit also welcomed the establishment of GIDH within the framework of the WHO.
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Mr Mandaviya said the GIDH will allow the democratization of digital health technologies in national digital health transformation particularly the Global South.
The success of the GIDH also requires strong regional cooperation, he stressed.
He also urged the WHO-SEARO (Southeast Asia Region) Director to implement the GIDH in the region.
The minister highlighted India’s ground-breaking digital health transformations, particularly through the flagship Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission which he said promotes healthcare digitization and creates an interoperable digital ecosystem.
Reiterating India’s unwavering support to the GIDH for its implementation, advancement and sustainability, he urged all member countries to join hands to strengthen the global digital health framework.
Mr Mandaviya said this will empower the countries in their journey towards ensuring universal health coverage.
As a WHO Managed Network (“Network of Networks”), GIDH aims to consolidate and amplify recent and past gains in global digital health while strengthening mutual accountability, and serving as a vehicle for implementing the Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020 – 2025, while enhancing the impact of future investments.
GIDH is expected to do so by acting as a knowledge hub and neutral broker to align resources and efforts towards establishing digital public infrastructure for health, a critical enabler for achievement of sustainable and evidence-based national digital health transformation.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. 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 a world post 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 well-being, 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.
