President Kagame to address health conference in Italy

KIGALI - President Paul Kagame yesterday left for Bellagio, Italy to attend an international conference on e-Health. The e-Health is an emerging digital technology that helps improve the health of poor and vulnerable people around the world.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

KIGALI - President Paul Kagame yesterday left for Bellagio, Italy to attend an international conference on e-Health. The e-Health is an emerging digital technology that helps improve the health of poor and vulnerable people around the world.

The conference, organized by Rockefeller Foundation Centre, will focus on how deploying e-Health and ICT in health systems can improve access, efficiency and quality of health services.

Most importantly, the conference is focusing on the global developing countries, where health infrastructure and capacity challenges loom large.

The conference will set the stage for long-term sustainable collaboration in the e-Health field.

Today, President Kagame is expected to deliver a key-note address on the theme: "Realising the potential of e-Health and Markets in Africa and Rwanda”.

He will also discuss challenges facing the predominantly public sector-led health systems and how technology and increased involvement of the private sector can contribute to efficiency, better quality and access to heath care.

The Making the eHealth Connection effort is led by the Rockefeller Foundation, in coordination with conveners internationally recognized in the fields of global health, international development and information and communications technology (ICT).

Participants at the conference include governments, industry, donors, researchers and civil society engaged in an effort to raise the profile of e-Health (the use of information and communications technology to improve the performance of health systems), form new partnerships and identify promising new areas of work for the Global South.

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