Telehealth use will suffer global divergence for years

Subject

Telehealth outlook.

Significance

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines telehealth as involving the use of telecommunications and virtual technology to deliver healthcare outside of traditional facilities. Telehealth is becoming a critical tool for addressing health inequalities but how it is accessed varies widely between developed and developing countries.

Impacts

• Rural parts of developing countries will lag the most on telehealth due to infrastructure gaps.
• Greater cross-industry collaboration is needed on privacy safeguards for personal health information.
• Developing-country health systems will face pressure to develop accreditation and regulatory bodies specifically for telehealth.