Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Invites Mali Health Officials to attend Telemedicine Training

October 22-30, 2009 - In response to the Malian Minister of Health’s request to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for assistance in developing a national telemedicine program, the Office of Global Health Affairs (OGHA) invited four health officials of the Malian National Agency for Telemedicine and Medical Informatics to attend telemedicine workshops organized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI).

In addition to the trainings received at the workshops, Malian health officials had the opportunity to visit the HHS/NIH National Library of Medicine, the World Bank, the Children’s National Medical Center, and other sites that have telemedicine programs from which they could learn.  They also participated in a video teleconference with the Director of the Alaska Federal Healthcare Access Network, during which participants listened to, and asked questions about the ways in which the Alaska telemedicine network was set up and how it can be replicated in developing countries.

Finally, the Malian health officials attended the mHealth summit hosted by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and whose objective was to build the capacity of, and harness collaborations among health services that utilize mobile technology.  Secretary Sebelius was one of the keynote speakers at the summit.  The mHealth event is particularly relevant to the Malian setting, as the majority of the population possesses cell phones while internet access is very limited.

Last revised: November 04, 2009