Oslo, 25 February 2021 ---- The European Commission funded BETTEReHEALTH project aims to contribute to better, more accessible, and more efficient health and care services in low and lower middle income countries (LLMICs) in Africa, by coordinating and supporting the deployment of sustainable eHealth solutions.
The African and European partners that are involved in the BETTEReHEALTH initiative, strongly believe in the project’s credo: “Better eHealth is Better Health,” whereby eHealth is not the goal in itself, but rather a tool to support better health services and health outcomes.
The project will map and identify various human, technical and public policy factors that are a barrier, or on the contrary, an enabler for eHealth implementation, and from there derive strategies and policies for more successful use of eHealth, and thus better health. At the same time, BETTEReHEALTH also supports the development of new and existing strategic partnerships on the African continent, as well as between European and African stakeholders in healthcare, research, education, business and government.
This networking, partnership building and exchange of knowledge is evidenced by the four regional hubs that are being set up in Tunisia, Ghana, Ethiopia and Malawi, already endorsed by each country's Ministry of Health, which is important, as strong ownership of national eHealth programs is crucial to their success.
Furthermore, BETTEReHEALTH will create open access registries with information on eHealth policies and solutions. The registries will be used to identify best practices and provide useful knowledge on eHealth implementation. This information will lead to well informed policy roadmaps and strategic implementation plans for better eHealth services for the four countries hosting the regional hubs, but will also be of high relevance for all other African countries who will be involved in the project.
BETTEReHEALTH will increase the level of international cooperation in eHealth, inform and strengthen end-user communities and policy makers in making the right decisions for the successful implementation of eHealth, and lead to increased collaboration opportunities for stakeholders in Africa and Europe with the overall aim of better health outcomes through better healthcare accessibility and higher quality.
On the launch of BETTEReHEALTH, Morten Dalsmo, Executive Vice President at SINTEF and Head of SINTEF Digital, one of Europe’s largest independent research organizations and Coordinator of the project, said: “BETTEReHEALTH is an important contribution to improve the quality of health services and increase access to health for underserved populations in Africa. This project is very much in line with SINTEF's vision "technology for a better society" and our commitment to the sustainable development goals. SINTEF has valuable experience from projects in eHealth and digital health and in addition to coordinating BETTEReHEALTH, we aim to share these experiences with the consortium and the health authorities in African countries. Furthermore, SINTEF and our partners have an extensive network in Africa. BETTEReHEALTH aims for stakeholders in Africa and Europe to connect and make new partnerships with the overall purpose of better health outcomes.”
For more information about BETTEReHEALTH, go to: www.betterehealth.eu
