Tuesday, 19 March, 2024
HomeTalking PointsEnsuring equitable access to fast-expanding virtual healthcare

Ensuring equitable access to fast-expanding virtual healthcare

Virtual health capabilities are evolving far beyond video consultations with a doctor. They now encompass an array of applications, from bots that screen people for common illnesses to artificial intelligence that can read X-ray images as well as a human radiologist.

Many experts see virtual technology as a promising tool for eliminating barriers to health care and addressing long-standing global health inequities.

But that promise is far from assured, write Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Ann Aerts in STAT News.

They write:

Many people have no internet access or lack the digital literacy needed to engage remotely with care practitioners or benefit from health-promoting services. According to the 2021 report of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies, 37% of the world’s population – that’s 2.9bn people – have never used the internet. Of these, 96% live in low- and middle-income countries. Unless policymakers, health providers and end users work together to better guide the process, the shift to virtually delivering health and care will create new digital barriers that leave millions of people unable to access the care they need.

Consider how age factors into people’s online habits. In the US, 99% of people aged between 18 and 29 are online. Older people, though, are less connected to the internet – and they are the demographic for whom reliable healthcare access can often be a matter of life and death. In the same vein, people in minoritised groups and those living in rural areas are less likely to have access to broadband than white Americans and those living in urban or suburban areas. Black Americans of any age are almost twice as likely to lack access to broadband internet compared with the general US population.

In India, 67% of people living in urban areas have internet access compared with 32% of people living rurally. Data collected across 34 countries in Africa show that women are less likely than men to have a smartphone, own a computer, or use the internet. In Sweden, a country that ranks number one in The Economist’s Inclusive Internet Index, up to one in five people with a disability feel excluded from the digital society.

Fortunately, there are pragmatic ways to ensure virtual technologies make health more equitable rather than less.

The ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development working group on health has published a comprehensive review of how age, gender, income, location, race, disability status and other factors determine people’s potential to reap the benefits of virtual health – or risk being left behind. This report highlights several policy areas emerging to close these gaps and provides the clearest guidance yet on how to ensure virtual technology can help make healthcare accessible to all.

Governments would benefit from developing national strategies for equitably expanding virtual health and care and integrating this into the healthcare system as a complement to in-person care. (Virtual health solutions are those seeking to keep people healthy; virtual care solutions treat those who are already sick.)

An effective national strategy would provide a coherent vision and policies that support the expansion of virtual health and care countrywide, in line with national priorities for strengthening broadband internet and mobile communications infrastructure. It would also direct public funding toward virtual applications that help a country improve access to virtual health and care.

Developers of virtual applications can help make access to healthcare more equitable by consulting representatives from diverse demographic backgrounds throughout the development process. Applications should be subjected to rigorous real-world testing to ensure they deliver superior health outcomes when compared with existing solutions.

In Germany, for example, developers of virtual health applications must demonstrate benefits for patients before receiving permanent licences. In this way, testing helps guide significant investment toward solutions that deliver the greatest impact, while providing developers with insights they can use to optimise applications for diverse populations.

Both health authorities and civil society organisations can do more to help consumers develop the skills and digital literacy required for virtual health and care applications. But even when people know how to use an application, they’re less likely to do that if they don’t trust the institutions, industries, or companies behind it. Public policies ensuring transparency in how applications work and how personal information is used, and that promote understanding of digital security standards, are critical to helping users feel confident and safe when accessing virtual care. Policies should also guarantee users clear avenues for expressing and receiving thoughtful responses to their feedback.

The transition to virtual delivery of health and care services will continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. With the principles of equity, inclusivity and transparency guiding that transition, virtual health and care can provide a vital complement to in-person care and make the highest level of health attainable for all.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is Director-General of the World Health Organisation. Ann Aerts heads the Novartis Foundation. They co-chair the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development Working Group on Virtual Health and Care.

FactsFigures2021

 

STAT News article – Technology is expanding virtual access to health care. Here’s how to ensure equitable outcomes (Open access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives:

 

Doctors see benefits of telehealth — concerned some patients may get left behind

 

Using smartphones in sub-Saharan Africa to control infectious diseases

 

OECD: How artificial intelligence could change the future of health

 

Virtual follow-up more convenient and equally beneficial to surgical patients

 

Western Cape Health's telemedicine diabetic project ‘saved lives’

 

In finite health systems, it's all about setting priorities

 

 

 

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.