For any questions related to the program, registration and participation, contact info@medetel.eu or call the Med-e-Tel secretariat at +32 2 269 84 56 or +32 478 59 36 99.

The burden of this trend is amplified by an increasing lack of healthcare related workforces, by budgetary constraints, by demographic evolution and by increasing need for professional long term care for older people.

The actual care model, mainly developed during the second halve of the 20th century, was driven by the need for easy geographic and financial access to urgent interventions.The financial model, supporting this medical paradigm, is also oriented toward single and differentiated short term medical interventions.

Today, these acute care models are dealing with the care for chronic diseases, but they often do not fit with the specific needs of the patient such as integrated customized care plan, optimal coordination of caregivers, optimal interaction between caregivers

empowerment of the patient, integration of existing and available technical solution (telecare solutions), adapted reimbursement scheme, enabling the patient stay at home. 

The adapted care delivery model describes the processes and activities of patients and caregivers. This is related to enrollment systems and identification and stratification of the patients with chronic diseases or with higher risk; customized care paths; development of interactive processes.

Hear more about those important developments and initiatives from Dr. Jan Van Emelen, Chair of the Disease Management Working Group at AIM and Director of Innovation at the Independent Health Insurance Funds in Belgium, during the Med-e-Tel 2011 opening session.  

Particular emphasis will be laid on the Global eHealth Ambassadors Program (GeHAP), an advocacy initiative with seed funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. Advocacy plays a particularly important role within the broad framework of using ICT to strengthen health systems, especially in the Global South. Chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the eHealth Ambassadors are globally recognized personalities who serve as high-level advocates for eHealth. They articulate consistent, ethical and evidence-based policy and advocacy positions with regard to the use of ICT in health; promote the development of integrated eHealth systems in countries; and advocate a higher profile for eHealth in health development activities, country budgets, bi- and multi-lateral partnerships, and aid and development programs.

The Med-e-Tel opening session, providing a Global Telemedicine and eHealth Update, is scheduled for 6 April 2011. Full Med-e-Tel conference program details are available here.

though Forum events and external conferences, to generate interest from both the business and non-business community in endorsing the Charter's values and principles.

Dr. Olivier Raynaud, Senior Director, Global Health at the World Economic Forum will present the Charter at Med-e-Tel on Friday April 8th. To arrange a meeting or interview with Dr. Raynaud at Med-e-Tel, please contact abigail.berg-hammond@weforum.org or sumeet.aggarwal@weforum.org.

To download the full Charter, click here  (pdf).

To see a list of the Charter's endorsers, click here (pdf).  

Should your organization be interested in endorsing the Charter, please contact datacharter@weforum.org.

TeleSCoPE will, through establishing service standards, help establish relationships of trust between users, patients and providers and contribute to overall health and well-being.

The standards will provide a quality benchmark for service regulation in member states. Other standards, including technical (interoperability) and information (privacy, etc.), will be referenced.

The strategic relevance of TeleSCoPE relates to the fit with EU initiatives that promote healthy lifestyles, healthy workforce, healthy life-years and healthy ageing, social inclusion and engagement, economic and social development, ICT application and the coordination of policies and programmes within member states.

Join TeleSCoPE partners for a stimulating debate at Med-e-Tel 2011 (on April 7th) that will help shape the envisioned Code of Practice and promote telehealth adoption in Europe in general.

Earth observation satellites offer the transnational global platform for collecting data on the vector-borne diseases, which are also spreading irrespective of national frontiers. Meteorological satellite data may also be used to identify epidemic-prone areas.

Moreover, space-based observations complemented by ground-based observations are well suited to monitoring different manifestations of climate change and the factors to contributing to it. However, the capabilities of remote sensing technology have not been fully disseminated to the health investigators and agencies that could be using them.

UNOOSA, through its Space Applications Programme and in cooperation with relevant UN organizations, space agencies and national health institutions have also been organizing number of workshops and expert group meetings in various geographical regions to address how space technology can contribute to the achievement of the health-related MDGs (Millennium Development Goals). The Med-e-Tel conference program will also feature one of these workshops (on Friday, April 8th). The prime objective of this UNOOSA panel at the Med-e-Tel is to promote awareness of the use of space technology applied to health care and review benefits for such applications as telehealth, telemedicine, mobile health and tele-epidemiology.