Resilience is a term that is coming to the fore, not only in Europe but also globally. Building resilience is key to turning around societal challenges in a positive and constructive way.
As a platform that works on moving digital health forward – together with its multiple stakeholders – EHTEL is always on the lookout for helpful and supportive materials. In this COVID era, Europe’s scientific community is providing insights into how to help build strong, flexible, and adaptable health data ecosystems.
Digital health-related developments
A European Commission report published on 11th June 2020 looked at the importance of digital resilience in times of crisis. It is called the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).
It explored five key areas. The fifth was the use of digital public services in Europe. The report indicates that there is an increasing trend towards the use of digital public services in the areas of eGovernment and eHealth. Denmark, Finland, Malta, Netherlands, and Sweden all top of the chart.
eHealth (or digital health as it is more commonly called today) enables more efficiency and savings for governments and businesses, improved transparency, and the greater participation of citizens in political life. 67% of internet users who submitted forms to their public administration in 2019 now use online channels, up from 57% in 2014: this shows the convenience of using ICT-enabled services over paper-based ones.
The top performers in the eHealth field include Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Spain: EHTEL is proud to have members located in almost all these leading countries. The challenge now is to build resilience throughout European countries that are less well equipped!
Moving towards resilience
In terms of health, and especially digital health, let’s encourage local actors to be resilient and to build resilience, to innovate, and to think and act “glocal”.
Source: European Commission press corner