The Sustainable Development of Telehealth in Latin America: Impact management, Science to Business and International Cooperation

Abstract

The UN 2030 Agenda, adopted in September 2015, establishes in its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 3 the commitment for the International Community to guarantee a healthy life and promote well-being for all at all ages. As a result, Latin America and the Caribbean have the great challenge of responding to the main challenges of health at a global level, optimizing the financial investment, the human resources and the available infrastructure as it establishes mechanisms to control health risk factors and its socio-economic impact. In this context, the development and integration of new communication and information technologies (ICTs) within national health systems – telehealth –, becomes the strategic tool of public health policies in Latin America and the Caribbean with the objective of improving the effectiveness and coverage of basic health services in a sustainable and cost-efficient manner, with a greater preventive, formative and inclusive character. Over the last decade, Latin American countries have started a series of initiatives for the development of telehealth at the national and regional levels, aimed at the development of technological infrastructures, the promotion of research and the development of new technologies for health as well as the creation of networks for training and promotion of public policies favorable to collaboration with the private sector. Although the remarkable advances and the positive scenario, it highlights the need to address two fundamental elements so that the development of telehealth in Latin America and the Caribbean can be carried out in a sustainable manner: (i) the institutional commitment of the governments to jointly address the development of a strategic plan and a regional structure for the development, establishment and improvement of telehealth in the region to ensure its continuity by providing the necessary financial and human resources; and (ii) the application of a Science to Business and Impact Management approach in the implementation of the regional telehealth development strategy and structure that favors the creation of interactive models among the private sector, public, universities, and international organizations. Promote their joint and integrated work, diversifying financial and human resources, favoring the transfer of knowledge and technology, and generating business opportunities, employability and sustainability in the region. This article ends with the recent creation of the Azierta Foundation in Madrid, with the aim of promoting the Science to Business approach in the field of health and life sciences and transfer it to the field of international cooperation through Impact Management.