Digital Healthcare: Technology to Monitor Public Health in India

Ms Preeti Sudan, a Health Secretary in India – launched Monday an Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) segment of Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) in seven states.

The new initiative will provide near-real-time data to policy makers for detecting outbreaks, reducing the morbidity and mortality and lessening disease burden in the populations and better health systems.

According to an official statement, an initiative by the Government of India, IHIP uses the latest technologies and digital health initiatives.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Preeti Sudan stated that the success of this platform will depend primarily on the quality of data shared by the states. “Data is power and power is to help people,” she said.

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She urged the state secretaries to be earnest in adopting this platform to strengthen early outbreak detection and informed public health response. She also shared that for effective implementation of the platform, 32,000 people at the block level, 13,000 at the district level, and 900 at the state level have been trained. The Secretary also launched the IHIP vision and a ready-reckoner developed to navigate the platform.

Ms Preeti Sudan, Health Secretary launched the New Integrated Health Information Portal (#IHIP) on Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (#IDSP) in 7 identified states through video conferencing today. #SwasthaBharat pic.twitter.com/3QMelrHh0E

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) November 26, 2018

Congratulating the government for making this ambitious undertaking a reality, Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India said that it is imperative to collaborate with the private sector to ensure the sustainability of this initiative.

“For WHO, it has been a privilege to support the development of the platform in collaboration with numerous government stakeholders,” he added.

Photo courtesy: Ministry of Health