Digital Health
Convergence of digital health platforms and health information systems
Digital health and health information systems (HIS) are dramatically altering the landscape for health. Thailand achieved UHC in 2002. However, the delivery of health services relies heavily on manpower without digitization, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the lack of adequate digital health platforms in the country. Remedying this issue requires convergence across the health, digital economy, industrial and innovation sectors and collaboration with the private and the nongovernmental actors. Thailand has made progress in the application of digital interventions for health, a process accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic by the need for timely and reliable data and public health issues like tuberculosis, migrant workers’ health and road traffic injuries. Notwithstanding these advancements, there remain areas in need of further development. These include overcoming fragmentation in digital health systems and strengthening an integrated approach to health through digital interventions.
Focus areas
- Landscape analysis for governance mechanism for digital health and HIS in Thailand
- Standards and interoperability of datasets for road traffic injuries, migrant workers and genomics
- Framework for health data management and data sharing with data protection in Thailand
- Open data catalytic initiative for research and policy support in Thailand
- Virtual hospitals and telemedicine in Thailand
Expected outcomes
Over the five years of CCS support, Thailand will seek to inform the design of a collaborative governance mechanism for digital health and HIS with relevant stakeholders. This will be done by describing the landscape and taking incremental steps in areas of health data standards, health data security and privacy, open data policy and virtual hospitals and telemedicine. This will consist of:
- Creating a shared vision demonstrating concepts on standards and legislative requirements and exploring open data policy;
- Understanding the potential for virtual hospitals and telemedicine; and
- Converging partners and building capacity for lasting impact
Objectives
The overarching goal of this WHO–CCS programme is to create a collaborative digital health governance mechanism to lead the development of Thailand’s digital health and integrated HIS with the support of WHO. This goal will be achieved through five focus areas as listed below, which are based on the seven building blocks of a digital health system and align with the priorities outlined by the Thai MoPH in its digital health strategy. The strategic objectives of this programme are:
- To increase understanding of the landscape for digital health in Thailand;
- To design a standard dataset for use in the cases of road traffic injuries, migrant workers and genomics;
- To build consensus and implement a framework, as appropriate, for health data management and data sharing in Thailand in a secure manner, while protecting people’s privacy;- to summarize and share information on availability and accessibility of data in Thailand; and
- To understand the current context of virtual hospitals and telemedicine in Thailand and explore patients’ experiences of these services
SDGs
3.6: By 2030, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents
16.9: Provide legal identity for all, including birth registration