The WeCareMore Centre for Research and Innovation welcomes this initiative and looks forward to collaborate for its success. According to Evert-Jan Hoogerwerf of the Centre, the DATA initiative can boost the digital health agenda worldwide. With the fairly recent Global Strategy on Digital health 2020-2025 as a guiding document, the DATA initiative will hopefully provide a framework for stakeholder involvement, knowledge exchange, research and policy development. It will be another opportunity for our Centre to share our expertise and learn from others.
About Digital and Assistive Technology for Ageing (DATA)
(Source: The GATE Initiative – Quarterly Update Newsletter – October-December 2020)
We are pleased to share the launch of a new WHO initiative, Digital and Assistive Technologies for Ageing (DATA). By 2050, the world’s population aged 60 years and older is expected to total 2 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fragility of health and social care systems worldwide especially the lack of continuity of basic health services for older people and persons with disabilities, such as rehabilitation and AT provision.
In the current context, digital technologies and home-based health-care programmes are emerging as key approaches to overcome access barriers and reduce costs.
The WHO DATA initiative seeks to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic and reform the interaction between health care, society, and technology, to promote more inclusive and sustainable health systems. DATA will partner with service providers and AT users, industry, and civil society, to encourage the development of affordable, quality, digital and assistive technologies and promote more integrated services for older and disabled people. The initiative has been announced on a Lancet commentary.