16 January 2018 | Cairo - The first regional capacity-building workshop on the development of national eHealth strategies was conducted from 25 to 27 December 2017, in full coordination with International Telecommunication Union (ITU) guided by the WHO/ITU National eHealth Strategy Toolkit. The objective of the workshop was to build capacity of national and country office eHealth focal points for stepwise development of national eHealth strategy, including developing a national eHealth vision, workplan, monitoring and evaluation criteria and indicators, taking into account local socioeconomic, cultural and possible emergency contexts. 

eHealth is changing health care delivery today and is at the core of responsive health systems. Developing and implementing a national eHealth strategy gives the evidence base for cost-effective health investments in a country. Without a strategy, effective decision-making can be compromised by conflicting priorities. WHO and ITU have developed a toolkit to assist countries to develop their own national eHealth strategies.

In addition to discussion on the content of the WHO/ITU toolkit content, the workshop included presentations on:

• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
• strategy for emergency readiness
• health economics. 

At the end of the workshop, participants were able to identify national eHealth context of their countries relevant to building a national eHealth strategy. This qualifies them to participate in building the case for development and implementing their country’s national eHealth strategies.

Participants from 15 countries attended the workshop: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.

Related link

National eHealth Strategy Toolkit | Arabic