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CTOs call for e-health standardisation

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2011

A meeting of 21 CTOs from leading companiesin the information and communication technology (ICT) industry has urged the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to accelerate technical standardisation work in the field of e-health.

The CTOs stressed that reliable, interoperable standards are key to providing patients and health professionals with the means to utilise remote consultation services, advanced ICT-based diagnostic procedures and electronic health information services.

The meeting, which was held last week in Geneva during ITU Telecom World 2011, agreed that international coordination on standards will be vital and that growth in telemedicine services will also demand aggressive roll-out of broadband networks.

The CTOs encouraged ITU to intensify its involvement by developing essential e-health infrastructure standards, and to cooperate with other standards bodies to create reliable, secure and interoperable e-health solutions.

Dr Hamadoun Tour'e, secretary general of the ITU said: “The ITU greatly profits from and welcomes the advice of these technology leaders. E-health will bring cutting-edge medical advice to people living in remote, underserved areas, and will revolutionise access to health services in the developing world.

“The ITU is actively working with all parties to create the frameworks for these technologies to be rolled-out on a solid bedrock of broadband deployment.”

On the topic of the upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT-12), the CTOs urged that any revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) maintain the necessary flexibility to enable continued growth in services.

To provide a strong basis for continued growth, the CTOs believe the resulting ITRs should reflect technology-neutral, high-level principles, and should be stable enough to reduce the need for future updates.

The participants also encouraged the ITU to continue promoting the key role of ICTs in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and urged the union to push this agenda at the upcoming United Nations climate change negotiations (COP17) in Durban.

They praised the ITU's current work in the field, referencing in particular the work of the ITU's Telecommunication Standardisation Sector on methodologies to assess the environmental impact of ICT.

Regarding climate change adoption, and informed by recent events in Japan, the CTOs identified two crucial areas for further work - a disaster relief system allowing individuals to notify a victim's friends, family or employer; and a disaster relief guidance mechanism to help victims reach safety.

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