Registration

9:30-10:20

Opening Session

Welcoming remarks:

Tea Break

Panel 1: The challenges  and sustainability of eHealth in Africa

Panelists:

• Mr Brahima Sanou, ITU Regional Representative for Africa, Head of the Connect Africa initiative, Addis Ababa [Presentation]
• Professor S. Yunkap Kwankam, Executive Director, International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth [Presentation]
• Dr Steinar Pedersen, Director Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine, University Hospital of North Norway, WHO Collaborating Centre
• Mr Stephen Lieber, President HIMSS [Presentation]

Moderator:  Dr Adesina Iluyemi, Chair, Global Health Commission-NEPAD Council

For discussion:

• Health systems challenges hampering eHealth mainstreaming in Africa;
• Information and communication infrastructure in Africa and the uptake of eHealth;
• Where are the needs of people?
• eHealth pilots  and initiatives: how to evaluate, what have we learned, when should they scale up, and how?

Lunch Break

Address by Professor Jeffery Sachs (via video-link) (tbc)

Panel 2: eHealth governance, policies, strategies and quality measures

Panelists:

• Dr Gunther Eysenbach, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Canada [Presentation];
• Dr Maurice Mars, Professor of TeleHealth, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, South Africa
• Dr Joseph Amuzu, Adviser, Social Transformation Programmes Division , Commonwealth Secretariat [Presentation]
• Dr Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Director Knowledge Management and Sharing, WHO/HQ [Presentation]
• Mrs Veronica Boateng, Director, Application Systems, Ghana Information and Communication Technology Directorate (GICTeD) [Presentation]

For discussion

• National policy and strategy development: who are the stakeholders, what are priorities?
• Standardization and interoperability: what if we don't have it?
• Legal, ethical, legislative and regulatory frameworks for eHealth implementation: are we there?
• Quality and safety of health information on the Internet: who decides and how?
• Quality and safety of health information on the Internet:: e role of standards, consumer education and media literacy
• Where is the evidence and information for eHealth strategy development and planning?

Tea Break

Panel 3: Public health informatics

Panelists:

• Dr Ramata Molo Thioune, Administratrice de Programmes Principal/Senior Program Officer, IDRC [Presentation]
• Dr Heide Richter-Airijoki, Principal Adviser Child Survival and Development- UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa, Dakar, Senegal
• Dr Mark Spohr, Technical Officer, Department of Health Statistics and Informatics, WHO/HQ [Presentation] 
• Moderator: Mr Brahima Sanou, ITU Regional Representative for Africa, Head of the Connect Africa Initiative, Addis Ababa

For discussion

• eHealth and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;
• eHealth and the renewal of the Primary Health Care;
• ICT for disease surveillance and epidemiology;
• ICT for data management and reporting;
• Electronic health records as a source of public health data;
• Pandemic alert and public awareness;
• Health mapping and Geographic Information Systems;
• Networking and data mining.

End of day one

9:00-10:30

Panel 4: eHealth and the people

Panelists:

• Professor Antoine Geissbuhler, President Elect, IMIA;
• Dr Hashem El Deeb, Director Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Egypt;
• Dr Ziedan Abdo Zeidan, Secretary General, Sudan National Medical Specialization Board
• Professor Riadh Gouider, Director of Telemedicine Centre, Medical College, Tunisia

For discussion

• eLearning: Building capacity of health workers (knowledge and skills);
• eLearning: health education, literacy and promotion;
• Health informatics education: building a critical mass of eHealth experts;
• eHealth awareness for managers, planners and decision makers;
• Ethical considerations in man-machine interaction

Tea Break

Panel 5: Economics, financing and partnerships in eHealth

Panelists:

• Dr Peter Drury, Director, Connected Health, Emerging Markets
  Internet Business Solutions Group, CISCO
• Mr Maurice Long, International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM)
• Mr Vimal Wakhlu, Executive Director Mr. Vimal Wakhlu, Executive Director. TCIL, India 

Moderator: Mr Denis Gilhooly, Principal Advisor UN Office for Partnerships

For discussion

• Moving eHealth from fragmentation to integration: is this a cost containment option?
• Budgeting and financing of eHealth as part of national health systems: what are the possibilities and options;
• Public private  partnerships in eHealth: the role of the private sector in building eHealth infrastructure and capacity;
• Economic value of eHealth and impact on health (return on investment analysis);
•  Funding opportunities for eHealth projects (UN agencies, European Commission, African Union, Foundations, Trust and other philanthropies).

Panel  6: mHealth: mobile communication for health  

Panelists:

• Dr Patricia N. Mechael, mHealth and Telemedicine Advisor, New York;
• Ms Claire Thwaites, UN/Vodafone Foundation Partnership, New York;
• Dr Adesina Iluyemi, Chair, Global Health Commission-NEPAD Council
• Michael Dabaly, Group Global Accounts Director, Middle East & Africa Region, Zain
• Mr Raghurama Krishna, Regional Director for Multimedia, Ericsson, Nigeria

For discussion

• What is the situation and where is the potential?
• Mobile communication technologies and health applications: experience from the field;
• Convergence of mobile computing and mobile communication technologies;
• mHealth for healthcare professionals;
• mHealth for the masses;
• Texting for health;
• Portable health and medical books;
• Mobile vs. low band width internet: which can reach more people?

Presentations of best practices and new initiatives on e-Health

• Africa Health Infoway project, Mr Getachew Sahlu, Programme Manager, WHO
• Rapid SMS for malaria, Ministry of Health, Nigeria - Mr Emmanuel Ubachukwu, ICT Manager, National Malaria Control Programme

Break and preparation for final session

Reports of session moderators:

1. The challenges and sustainability of eHealth in Africa
2. eHealth governance
3. Public health informatics
4. eHealth and the people
5. Economics, funding and partnerships in eHealth
6. mHealth: mobile communication for health

Closing Session