Bridging the digital divide, highlighting the potential of digital technology to enhance community-led interventions for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases

This policy brief by the consortium scaling-up NCD interventions in Southeast Asia provides an overview of the situation for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. It provides key lessons learnt from the global expansion of digital technology for health. It gives a summary of the SUNI-SEA experiences with digital technology in Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar.

Digital health has a promising future, for maintaining electronic medical records, for communication between service providers, for health education and self-management. However, it is important to introduce the technology carefully, given the low digital literacy of many community members. Also issues of limited internet access should be addressed in rural areas. It is therefore a long-term process, which needs commitment from governments.