KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, has lauded the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) for its 2022 research focus on digital health management.

The regional health agency will host its 66th Health Research Conference in Jamaica from September 15 to 17, under the theme ‘COVID-19 and Digital Health: Transforming, Connecting, Informing Public Health’.

Speaking at the launch of the conference, on September 6, at the Ministry’s New Kingston office, Dr Tufton noted that a key deliverable under the Government’s US$87-million programme to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is to equip the health system with information and communications technology (ICT).

There would also be the build out of ICT infrastructure to support the digitisation of Jamaica’s health system, including the application of telemedicine.

“Our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the value of digitisation to health-system resilience,” the Minister told the audience.

Tufton added that digitisation creates an enabling environment for “safeguarding continuity” of care to patients through the offer of collaborative care, and the format of the conference, combining face-to-face with online engagement and sharing, “is indicative of the changes that are required of us as we look to ICT to enhance the delivery of the highest quality of patient care in public health in Jamaica and across the Caribbean”.

“At this year’s CARPHA conference, therefore, digitisation is being given the sort of attention it needs, even as we provide the platform for learning and planning through knowledge and experience sharing, reflected in the array of research on offer from across the region,” he said.

The Minister underscored that an essential component of the delivery of health care to the population is health promotion and education, as the Government prioritises preventive care, to which research is also critical.

“It is for this reason, together with the reality of the NCDs challenge with which we are faced, that Jamaica launched a study on salt intake and undertakes public education programmes on the effects of high consumption of salt,” he pointed out.

The conference is the longest running forum in the Region, and will, this year, combine an in-person event with a virtual online component. The occasion and associated meetings/events have attracted more than 200 regional and international delegates and meeting attendees. A similar number of people were in attendance during the first ever virtual conference held in 2021.