Global Health Security & the Digital Health Society 2030
A report by Dr Suranga Dolamulla, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Global Health Histories
On the 20th of April, Dr. Suranga Dolamulla represented the WHO Collaborating Centre for Global Health Histories at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held at the Royal Overseas League, London. Suranga participated in the side event ‘Global Health Security & the Digital Health Society 2030: Innovation & Investment for One Planetary Health & Universal Health Coverage’.
This event was co-chaired by Professor Dame Sally Davies, (Chief Medical Officer for England, Chief Medical Advisor to the UK Government, and Co-Convener, United Nations Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance) and Professor Vajira H.W. Dissanayake (President, Commonwealth Medical Association and Chairman, Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health). It sought to highlight the importance of digital health for One Planetary Health and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and the role that the new Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health (CWCDH) would play as an enabler of Digital Health in the Commonwealth.
Dr. Dolamulla writes: “keynote messages were delivered by the WHO Director General and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth nations indicating the importance of global alliances for digital health. Three round table sessions were focused on digital health and UHC in Africa, Small Island States, and Asia with the participation of a group of experts in health care and health financing including the Minister of Health, Malta, the Permanent Secretary of Health of Uganda, and leaders of the Commonwealth Medical Association. The importance of sharing common flat forms in digital health for healthcare delivery and disease control were emphasised by many of the speakers.”
The Honourable President of Sri Lanka also participated in this event.
The side event also included the launch of the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health (CWCDH). You can find out more about this organisation and its objectives via https://cwcdh.org/.
You can read more about Dr. Dolamulla’s research at https://www.york.ac.uk/history/staff/research-staff/dolamulla/