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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Yearb Med Inform 2022; 31(01): 354-364
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1742495
Information on IMIA Regional Groups

Middle East and North African Health Informatics Association (MENAHIA)

Inclusive Digital Health in MENA Region
Hassan Ghazal
1   Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, Casablanca, Morocco
2   National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST), Rabat, Morocco
3   Moroccan Association for Telemedicine and eHealth, Rabat, Morocco
,
Abdulwahhab Alshammari
4   Health Informatics Department, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5   King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Adel Taweel
6   Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine
,
Ahmed ElBokl
7   Ain Shams University Virtual Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
,
Chakib Nejjari
1   Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, Casablanca, Morocco
8   Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, Fez, Morocco
,
Dari Alhuwail
9   Information Science Department, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait
10   Health Informatics Unit, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait
11   Farwaniya Hospital, Ministry of Health, Kuwait
,
Dena Al-Thani
12   College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Eiman Al-Jafar
13   Kuwait Health Informatics Association, Kuwait
,
Hoda Wahba
7   Ain Shams University Virtual Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
,
Mohammed Alrishidi
13   Kuwait Health Informatics Association, Kuwait
,
Mounir Hamdi
12   College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Mowafa Househ
12   College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Osama El-Hassan
14   Health Informatics Specialist, Department of Health Informatics & Smart Health, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE
,
Sana Alnafrani
4   Health Informatics Department, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5   King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Sharareh Rostam Niakan Kalhori
15   Department of Health Information Management, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
16   Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics (PLRI), Technical University of Braunschweig and Hannover Medical School, Braunschweig, Germany
,
Tamer Emara
7   Ain Shams University Virtual Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
,
Tanvir Alam
12   College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Zineb El Otmani Dehbi
1   Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, Casablanca, Morocco
,
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji
17   eHealth Development Association, Jordan, Amman, Jordan
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Summary

The region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is diverse and retains a superior growth potential. It benefits from a privileged geographical location with big markets, a young and growing educated population, and competitive advantages in several industries. Regardless of their differences, countries face shared concerns, most notably in health. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MENA countries enact reforms to create a more robust and inclusive digital health systems to increase growth, development, and integrity. Throughout the coordinated containment and mitigation efforts, most of the countries have integrated digital technologies into the health systems. These procedures include digital government initiatives, the introduction of digital health training courses, live video surgeries and virtual patient monitoring, rural and remote telemedicine programs, and the development of a national electronic health records (EHR) system. Each country took necessary actions to address equity, literacy, and development of resilient health systems. The nine featured countries in this report illustrate the diversity among the MENA region and account for major opportunities and achievements as well as promises and challenges that “digital health” presents for its populations.

Keywords

Digital health - telemedicine - MENAHIA - IMIA - sustainable development goals - COVID-19 - Egypt - Iran - Jordan - Kuwait - Morocco - Palestine - Qatar - Saudi Arabia - United Arab Emirates


Publication History

Article published online:
02 June 2022

© 2022. IMIA and Thieme. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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