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WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH

Given the critical importance of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health (MDGs 4 and 5), a high-level UN commission to improve global reporting, oversight and accountability for women's and children’s health – the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health (CoIA) – was established in January 2011 to increase the likelihood that pledges for women's and children's health are honoured and that resources are spent in the most effective way to save lives. One of the ten recommendations set by the Commission encourages “Innovation through information and communication technologies (ICT) for accountability”. The International Telecommunication Union along with the World Health Organization and the Innovation Working Group are partners in supporting this recommendation.

Recommendation 3 of the CoIA on eHealth and innovation: “By 2015, all countries in the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health have integrated the use of Information and Communication Technologies in their national health information systems and health infrastructure.”

ICT for improving information and accountability for Women and Children’s Health Background Report, July 2013

Information and communication technology (ICT) and eHealth applications play an essential role in meeting the ten recommendations set by the CoIA. Together, they aim at creating a system to track whether donations for women's and children's health are made on time, if resources are spent wisely and transparently, and whether the desired results are achieved. This report reviews each of the ten CoIA recommendations, highlighting the contributions ICT applications can provide in their implementation and in fast tracking the fulfilment of the MDGs 4 and 5. Download report here.

EHEALTH AND INNOVATION IN WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH: A BASELINE REVIEW BASED ON THE FINDINGS OF THE 2013 SURVEY OF COIA COUNTRIES BY THE WHO GLOBAL OBSERVATORY FOR EHEALTH

ITU and WHO has jointly published in March 2014, based on a 64-country survey, the report “eHealth and innovation in women's and children's health: A baseline review” that demonstrates the vital role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) and particularly eHealth are playing today in helping achieve those targets. It demonstrates how, every day, eHealth is saving the lives of women, their babies and infants in the some of the most vulnerable populations around the world, in a wide variety of innovative ways.

Global eHealth Projects Repository

To enable mutual learning through the sharing of experiences and good practices, the ITU and WHO are developing the Global eHealth Projects Repository that aims to collect and make available information on validated, operational eHealth projects with demonstrated and effective use of ICT for health.

The initial focus is on eHealth projects related to women's and children's health, to support the United Nations Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. In time, the collection will be expanded to include other eHealth topics. Governments and national institutions are invited to submit their projects. Contributions will be made available online, once validated, through ITU and WHO websites to a global audience.

Regional Workshops

In 2011 – 2012, the ITU participated in seven Multi-country workshops, organized at regional levels by WHO (http://www.who.int/woman_child_accountability/accountability_workshops/en/index1.html), and presented ICT regional and national initiatives supporting maternal and child health.

In 2013, four Regional workshops are planned in Africa and Asia to focus on the Recommendation 3 of the CoIA on eHealth and innovation to build capacities towards leveraging ICT for Women’s and Children’s Health.

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