Luis Tejerina, specialist of the Social Protection and Health Division of the Inter-American Development Bank, highlighted the achievements and challenges that Digital Health has experienced in the region during the pandemic.
Luis Tejerina, health specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), conducted an interview for the March issue of Digital Health Latin America Magazine. During the interview, Tejerina explained the challenges faced by Digital Health in the Latin American context, and highlighted the need to develop digital policies and agendas to impact the population and achieve digital transformation.
"It is important to note that when the pandemic began, we were already lagging behind in digital issues," he explained. He also acknowledged that less than 35% of the countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region have regulations that support the use of electronic medical records, or that only 45% of households have only mobile broadband. The possible solution proposed by Tejerina is that governments need to invest heavily.
Regarding the challenges and achievements of digital health in the Latin American and Caribbean region, he explains that: "there are studies that show that the electronic medical record improves the quality of service, increases adherence to clinical areas, eliminates the duplication of unnecessary tests and avoids adverse effects of medications". He also explained that the use of Artificial Intelligence can prevent deaths, for example, caused by sepsis, as it has achieved mortality reduction rates of 25% in hospitals in Brazil. On the other hand, he stressed that telemedicine has sufficient evidence to determine that its use has similar or better results than traditional care, despite its limitations.
The challenges identified by Tejerina are the development of digital health agendas, as well as legal considerations and the implementation of common interoperability standards. "Solving these problems will lead us to a secure and digital future in the healthcare segment in Latin America.
53% of the countries in the region have some kind of Digital Health strategy, however, roles and responsibilities must be defined with all the participating actors, whether they are health authorities, the private sector or patients. Tejerina explains the need to articulate three strategic lines: setting the north in terms of objectives, making available all the infrastructure to set up the digital services strategy and the strategy itself.
LATIN AMERICAN DIGITAL HEALTH MAGAZINE
