With assistance from the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) and support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and CC and C Solutions, facilitators crafted a set of methodologies to commence the governance and architecture work needed to guide eHealth projects at national scale. In this connection, nine countries gathered at the Holiday Inn Singapore last year to co-create the Health Information Governance and Architecture Framework (HIGAF).

The HIGAF aims to guide developing member countries address their health sector needs. This can be accomplished by using existing IT governance initiatives to drive digital health. Based on a simplified COBIT5 (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies 5) framework, the HIGAF complements the Convergence Workshop which focused on engaging different country actors to support the national eHealth strategy led by the Ministry of Health.

Many developing countries are fast-tracking their digital health investments. However, most are still trying to figure out how to approach the activity. In 2012, AeHIN introduced the WHO-ITU National eHealth Strategy Toolkit. In 2013, AeHIN facilitated the training of six countries on developing their national eHealth strategy. By 2015, Myanmar had conducted the first Convergence Workshop to convene international NGOs, development partners, and the private sector. This gathering of stakeholders aimed to support the health information systems strategy of the Ministry of Health.

More information about HIGAF is available here.