Hi everyone,
From this article, there are five key themes (Team; Transparency & Trust; Technology; Techquity; Transformation) for implementing digital health in pandemic preparedness. In my opinion, Thailand has strong areas in Technology to integrate digital tools and surveillance, and Team to cooperate with multiple levels of stakeholders.
Two themes appear to present gaps: Transparency & Trust, and Techquity. I’ll detail why for each.
Transparency & Trust
While Thailand has enacted key legislation (e.g., personal data protection, cybersecurity laws), and is working on frameworks for data management and sharing. However, the trust aspect, such as how citizens feel about data use, how transparent the governance is, seems less prominent in the sources. For a pandemic-preparedness system, unless people trust that their data are used appropriately, uptake of digital health tools may lag. Strengthening the governance, communication, and citizen-engagement components of digital health systems should be improved to build stronger trust and transparency.
Techquity
While Thailand has telemedicine and remote-care initiatives to improve access, concerns about the fragmentation of digital systems and ensuring inclusive access remain. Workforce digital literacy and capacity building across all health-care, public-health, and community settings are highlighted as needing more investment to ensure that digital health tools are equitably accessible and usable by all parts of the population.