Action Team on Public Health

Brief mission statement:

To improve public health services by expanding and coordinating space-based services for telemedicine.

Findings:

(a) There is a legitimate need for space-based services for telemedicine, whether in countries that are members of the Group of Eight or in less developed countries;
(b) In addition to telemedicine, space-based technologies have other applications to improve public health, for example:
(i) To identify and monitor situations conducive to emergence of specific diseases;
(ii) To conduct surveillance at the national level to identify and monitor spread of infectious diseases;
(iii) To maintain data on best medical practices and disseminate that information on a global basis;
(iv) To use space-based technologies for continuing education for the general public and for medical professionals;
(c) The uses of space-based technologies listed above are specifically applicable to disease monitoring and mitigation in addition to improving general public health.

Recommendations for further action:

(a) Establishment of a cardiovascular-disease knowledge-management network;
(b) Holding of an international global United Nations conference for telemedicine specialists and government officials to discuss such issues as best practices and experience in providing telemedicine services;
(c) Compilation of a report on the status and potential of telemedicine worldwide; the report would: (i) examine the range of telemedicine initiatives worldwide; (ii) identify the most promising areas for implementation; (iii) examine the needs for telemedicine, especially in developing countries; and (iv) propose steps and develop recommendations for decision makers.

Implementation already initiated:

(a) The initiative to establish a cardiovascular network (recommendation (a)) is at a standstill owing to lack of funding. Efforts are still being made to identify seed funding, in order to initiate feasibility studies and pilot projects;
(b) There have been a number of offers to hold a telemedicine workshop on the margins of scheduled conferences, such as Med-e-Tel, to be held in Luxembourg, a European Association for the International Space Year (EURISY) conference, to be held in Rabat, and a cardiovascular conference to be held in Milan, Italy; an offer has also been received to convene a full conference to be hosted by the Ministry of Health of the Syrian Arab Republic. All these options are under consideration;
(c) The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has drafted a report on the global status of telemedicine and circulated it among national health authorities for comments; once the final report of OECD is published, the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) has agreed to expand that report to cover any points from recommendation (c) above that are not addressed;
(d) The Scientific and Technical Subcommittee has included an item on “Space-systems-based telemedicine” under a three-year work plan, covering the period 2004 to 2006, for member States to share their experiences and views on telemedicine; this should complement the report being prepared by OECD and SGAC.

Indication of impediments to implementation:

(a) Difficulty of securing funding for the initial project of establishing a cardiovascular-disease knowledge-management network;
(b) While Canada had offered to lead the cardiovascular network initiative, other members of the Action Team were invited to complete the other two actions, to implement recommendations (b) and (c) above.
(Morocco has agreed to include the subject of telemedicine in a conference taking place in July 2004 (the Chair of the Action Team is assisting this effort); various additional offers were also received (see para. 5 (b) above). No member of the Action Team has offered to lead the compilation of the report under recommendation (c). However, the report prepared by OECD and SGAC should satisfy this specific action item (see para. 5 (c) above).)

Benefits to be derived from implementation:

(a) Overall improvement of the well-being of people worldwide;
(b) Better disease monitoring and management at both national and global levels;
(c) Improved educational opportunities for the general public and for medical professionals.

Progress made by the Action Team:

(a) Little progress has been made to date. The cardiovascular disease knowledge management network concept is still on hold owing to lack of funding;
(b) The Chair of the Action Team is now working directly with the organizers of the EURISY conference to be held in Rabat to have an element of telemedicine included. Other invitations for a tele-health conference are under consideration;
(c) It is recommended that the Action Team pursue a new project or focus on the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee’s work plan.