E-health Pavilion at ITU 2009: Successful event and fruitful meetings for Pesinet

Pesinet was showcased among other e-health initiatives on the pavilion of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, 5-9 October 2009, during the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2009.

Pesinet booth

Visitors had a chance to discover the ins and outs of the initiative and see a live demo of the applications used for follow-up of children’s health. Equipment used for the service were displayed at the entrance of the booth: a baby-scale, a basic mobile phone, the online application for remote health monitoring of children developed by Pesinet. A video was broadcasted and pictures from the pilot project displayed.

Anne Roos-Weil, Managing Director of Pesinet, was there to respond to any question and explain the project. Visitors were also invited to leave some comments on a post-it to share their thoughts and ideas about Pesinet.

Governments, international organizations (United Nations agencies, World Bank), NGOs and private companies showed a strong interest in the project. Many of them identified Pesinet as a very promising project and asked when it would be replicated to scale its impact.

E-health solutions throughout the course of life

The WHO e-Health pavilion offered an exhibition demonstrating how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) were transforming healthcare. The pavilion exhibited technologies, software and systems designed for developing countries and targeting populations at different stages of their life course: pregnancy, childhood, adolescence, adults and elderly people. Exhibitors included NGOs as well as private companies to showcase a variety of projects focusing on different aspects of healthcare including surveillance, health services delivery, e-learning for health practitioners and special applications for emergency treatment in remote areas.

The event was a great opportunity to publicize Pesinet, explain its innovative approach and strong impact on the ground to senior executives of the telecom industry, the international organizations representatives, non-governmental organizations, academics, and government representatives from all over the word.

It also proved successful in creating a collaborative platform for exhibitors and visitors to share best practices in e-health, learn more about others’ initiatives and imagine new ways and partnerships to develop promising projects.