Role of clinical informatics in the implementation of universal health coverage

Abstract

On 23 September 2019, the United Nations General Assembly held a high-level meeting on universal health coverage (UHC). This meeting, held under the theme ‘UHC: Moving together to build a healthier world’, aims to accelerate progress toward UHC, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential healthcare services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. E-health (or health/clinical informatics) is recognised as one of the key components of successful implementation of UHC by the World Health Organization, which states that ‘It has become increasingly clear that UHC cannot be achieved without the support of eHealth’,which was also acknowledged by the World Health Assembly: ‘eHealth is the cost-effective and secure use of ICT [information and communications technology] in support of health and health-related fields, including health-care services, health surveillance, health literature, health education, knowledge and research.