The strategy for dealing with large-scale disease outbreaks is poorly developed in the Philippines by global standards. This is demonstrated, among other things, by the country’s heavy exposure to Covid-19, which led to the world’s longest curfews.
The GSMA has now published the report “Disease Surveillance and Monitoring in the Philippines: Building resilience through mobile and digital technologies”, which addresses the gaps in the Philippines’ disease surveillance systems. The authors recommend digital intervention methods that have already proven successful in other countries, such as the use of Mobile Big Data in Ghana. They also present ways for the government, mobile network providers and (international) organisations to recognise and promote digital innovations in the country. Above all, cross-sectoral cooperation is needed to effectively digitise surveillance systems.
Digital innovation in health systems is also the topic of our policy initiative DIPC, about which you can learn more here.
