Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Wednesday called on African Ministers of Health to define an e-health framework to review policies and strategies for the achievement of major health goals that will extend beyond the Millennium Development Goals.
He said the framework should also take into consideration the needs and resources of Africa and ensure that the continent deployed e-health solutions for the sake of the people.
The Vice President made the call at the opening of a two-day United Nations (UN) Africa Regional Ministerial meeting on e-Health, in Accra on Tuesday.
The meeting, with over 100 participants made up of government ministers, health experts, policy makers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and business representatives, is on the theme "e-Health, Use of Information and Communication Technology for Health".
Participants will be discussing topics including the Challenge and Sustainability of e-Health in Africa, e-Health Governance, Policies, Strategies and Quality Measures, e-Health and People, Economics, Financing and Partnerships in e-Health and Mobile Communication for Health.
The meeting forms part of the 2009 Annual Ministerial Review to be held as part of the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Geneva in July this year.
The e-Health was established by the World Health Organisation in 2005 and it to strengthen patient care and health systems by harnessing the power of Information Communication Technologies.
Vice President Mahama noted that Africa needed to take a position in the way and manner Information and Communication Technology (ICT) must be deployed.
He said "We must avoid the situation where solutions are not based on our problems and challenges but rather on other systems, which do not have identical challenges as ours".
Mr Mahama explained that in situations where most health specialists worked in teaching hospitals, the use of the e-health will make available the expertise of these specialists available to people living in the rural areas.
He said "Indeed, rural-urban differences in mortality rate are clear indications of the distributive inequalities in health services. Many people living outside urban areas in our various countries are living in extremely precarious conditions with higher risk of being affected by health problems and lower opportunities to address them".
The e-health, the Vice President said when systematically implemented would solve to some extent the problems of underdeveloped infrastructure, personnel among others and address the health and medical problems facing the people.
It will also improve efficiency by improving both management and technical efficiency at all levels through reliable information dissemination systems and by supporting the decision making process.
Ms Sylvie Lucas, President of ECOSOC, called for the strengthening of evaluation mechanisms to give policy and decision makers tools to promote a coherent and coordinated approach.
He said "While these evaluation need to look at cost benefit analysis, they should also look at the impact and the performance of ICT on the health of the concerned population. In order to safeguard sustainability, projects need to be demand-driven so as not to increase already fragmented health systems".
Mr Thomas Stelzer, Assistant Secretary-General, of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said the Department was collaborating with WHO to come out with an initiative to demonstrate the potential of e-health.
The initiative, which will be on pilot basis in Unganda and later in Ghana, seeks to draw attention to the enormous untapped potential of e-health worldwide.
It will engage citizens in a Short Message Service (SMS), dialogue on health and encouraging them to express their views and concerns about health care.
The Minister of Health, Dr. George Sipa Yankey hoped the initiative would serve as a turning point in the drive to modernize the health services in Africa.