Statement from the International Academy for Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI), the Academy of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA)
to the Director General of the WHO on the Use of Informatics in Pandemic Situations

It is critical to emphasize the use of health informatics methodology and information and communication technology to combat the current pandemic COVID-19 and future outbreaks. The essential role of biomedical and health informatics in pandemic surveillance, notification and continued delivery of evidence-based best practices. Accelerated use of these methodologies and technologies is a critical success factor for enhancing the health and wellbeing of individuals and the sustainability of the health care systems worldwide through its continued improvements to health efficiencies, efficacies, effectiveness and outcomes.

We believe that by working closely and in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) that the continued and further use of health informatics will maximize the response to such crises through its proper utilization for surveillance, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pandemias in all countries and communities.

On behalf of IMIA (with its Working Groups and Special Interest Groups) and IAHSI, whose Fellows represent the top world experts in health and biomedical informatics, extends its support to the WHO’s continued efforts to “flatten the curve” through “crisis informatics”. We invite WHO to collaborate with our organization on working towards best practices that will strengthen public health systems worldwide, ensuring that every single individual is covered and is accounted for through the use of available informatics methodology and information and communication technology tools by, but not limited to, the following:

  1. Accelerated utilization of informatics methodology and technology to mine signals of pandemics based on good quality data in advance. Artificial intelligence, complementing traditional epidemiological approaches, could detect such signals for pandemics at a much earlier state as it has been for the COVID-19;
  1. adoption of a global policy on virtual care telemedicine practices and technologies for all levels of health authorities and ministries worldwide to utilize, enabling remote triage in support of flattening the curve, and lessening the strain on the health systems to enable better access to the care required; 
  1. adoption of a global policy for patient-centered health data sharing, covering an evidence-based global guideline for self-monitoring and self-diagnosis that can be used to educate people on their health status; provide guidance to countries to adhere to the standardization and integration principles of technology solution, including travel history of individuals;
  1. adoption of a policy to ensure that high-quality information that is understandable worldwide by the public and professionals, from reliable sources is shared over social media networks and exchanged.

We continue to identify and lead research efforts to identify sources of low quality and misleading information on the virus and enable collaboration among all governments, the private sector and the media. Collaborative efforts could result in establishing a global automotive pandemic help desk through the utilization of innovative tools including web robotics and AI and could easily result in a global collaboration by the telecom companies.  Efforts such as these would create the measures required to advance population knowledge, increase user engagement and redirect discussions to useful, accurate and trustworthy information and therefore assisting in alleviation of the strain on the health systems worldwide.

We applaud the WHO’s leadership shown thus far in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are particularly appreciative of the views expressed by the Director General in respect to what he called the “Infodemics” and expressed willingness to assist in combating this misinformation and disinformation pandemic.

We are equally pleased to see incredible uptake in the adoption of distance education and eLearning technology by many of our members.  Within the medical and health education over the last several weeks, showing their full support in the worldwide goal of flattening the COVID-19 infection curve, ensuring the safety of front-line care providers, and reducing the strain on finite hospital resources and thus assisting in mitigation of the negative impact on the worldwide economy.

 

Dr. Najeeb Al-Shorbaji                Prof. Dr. Reinhold Haux             Prof. Dr. Sabine Koch
Chair, IAHSI Committee             President, IAHSI                          President, IMIA
on Health Informatics
in Pandemics

 

About IAHSI

The International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI) is the Academy of IMIA, the International Medical Informatics Association.  IAHSI seeks to collaborate and to offer expertise to governments, governmental organizations, and international organizations, in particular to WHO, where IMIA is a Non-Governmental Organization in official relations with WHO.

About IMIA

IMIA is the world body for health and biomedical informatics and an “association of associations”. Through the ongoing work of IMIA’s Working Groups, Special Interest Groups, and the Academy, IAHSI, IMIA provides informatics leadership and expertise to the multidisciplinary health-focused community and to policy makers, to enable the transformation of health care in accord with the world-wide vision of improving the health of the world population.

For more information please visit website https://imia-medinfo.org/wp/.

For further information, please contact Elaine Huesing, IMIA CEO, imia@imia-services.org 1-780-489-4521.