Background

Developing countries are facing a dire health crisis with millions of people dying each year from basic health care deficiencies. Major threats to public health stem from a shortage of health professionals, inadequate health education, and out of date clinical treatment. Lack of access to accurate and timely health information is an important contributory factor. The social and economic burden of disease in the developing world is further worsened by the feedback link between health and economic development.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to help improve the delivery of information and services to the healthcare community and to end-users in developing countries. ICTs cannot solve the global health care crisis single-handedly, but tele-diagnosis, distance learning, practitioner and citizen information networks, and other applications offer powerful tools to overcome some of the shortcomings and weaknesses caused by breakdowns in information-sharing, learning and management - crucial factors for a well-functioning health care system. In considering the role of ICTs in the area of health, there are many issues deserving consideration, including:

• How much of a priority should ICTs be within health care planning, when many health care systems lack funds for basic medicine, health care facilities and personnel?
• What is the relative value of up-to-date health information in an under-funded health system?
• What are the technical challenges to use ICTs to provide accurate and timely health information to the developing world?
• Are ICTs efficient means of improving public understanding of health and wellness when infrastructure, literacy and other factors limit effective access to ICTs?
• Can ICTs be used appropriately to train health professionals?
• How can we understand the readiness of a developing country to effectively implement technology solutions within its health care system?
• What are the major challenges to establishing sustainable models (financial, administrative, training, etc.) of health services provision using ICTs in developing countries?

Triggered by these questions, the Information Technologies Group at the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University is organizing a workshop on Information Technology for Health in Developing Countries. The objective of this workshop is to bring together key experts on information and communications technology (ICT) and health to discuss and identify issues that are critical to health and wellness - and understand how the healthcare systems of the developing world can benefit from ICTs. Ultimately the mission of this meeting is to understand how new technologies can be appropriately employed to improve health in the world's poorest nations. We will seek to learn from both projects now underway and past experience, with an eye to developing new approaches and initiatives to bring these powerful tools to bear on what, in many ways, we consider to be at the very core of social and economic development.