- Authors: Campos F, Lapão LV, Messina LA, Ungerer R
- Publication Year: 2016
- Journal: Anais do Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical
As a result of the III Meeting of Ministers of Health of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) in Maputo in 2014, when the Health Ministers expressed their commitment to promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for access universal quality health care at a sustainable cost, it is proposed a diagnosis of existing telehealth capacities, an analysis of potential telehealth use and a set of short-medium term recommendations for CPLP countries to develop their own national strategies in the use of ICT and more specifically to the use of telehealth.
The CPLP members have already an extensive experience in the use of ICT for telehealth especially in distance education and practice video/ web-conferencing. But its potential is far from fully tapped and identifies many opportunities for cooperation as a way to leverage its use.
Recommendations to enhance telehealth within the CPLP are:
1. To promote more distance education, telemedicine and medical simulations;
2. Apply ICT best practices to make healthcare more affordable, sustainable and available;
3. Support the use of telehealth in promoting Universal Access to Health;
4. Promote the (high-speed networks) link between higher education, research institutions, and healthcare units;
5. Promote the use of telehealth in public health, health surveillance, promotion and health prevention, health emergencies and multicentric trials.