Go.Data is a platform for outbreak response developed by WHO in collaboration with partners in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and informed by years of WHO and GOARN partner experience in outbreak response. The Go.Data project aligns with the WHO Global Health Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2025, launched with the vision of improving health for everyone, everywhere by accelerating the development and adoption of person-centric digital health solutions to prevent, detect and respond to epidemics and pandemics.
The onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 rapidly shifted the focus of the project towards supporting countries in Go.Data implementation for the pandemic response, where WHO and GOARN partners have supported roll-out in 65 countries or territories and over 115 institutions, in which implementation is conducted at national, subnational or institutional levels.
It has become increasingly important to carefully consider how Go.Data can fit within existing health information systems most effectively. Designing bespoke interoperability solutions is costly, time-consuming and not easily replicable across contexts.
To this end, this consultation aimed to:
- provide a global forum to discuss interoperability in the context of the global Go.Data rollout,
- share technical and operational experiences in the design and implementation of these solutions and
- identify practical opportunities for stakeholders to collaborate on these topics.
The specific outputs of this consultation were:
- To identify and document existing Go.Data interoperability use cases and promote dialogue with attendees around these use-cases to elicit shared requirements and challenges.
- To strengthen coordination and facilitate collaboration across projects and stakeholders on existing and future Go.Data interoperability initiatives.
- To discuss how Go.Data interoperability initiatives can best align with overarching digital health interoperability standards set forth by relevant teams across WHO and GOARN partners.
- To develop a roadmap for a generic middleware solution for Go.Data to connect flexibly across a range of different platforms, including scoping for future development hackathons.
Participation: Around 50 technical experts involved in design (i.e., software developers) and deployment (i.e., specialists in technical and operational requirements) of Go.Data interoperability solutions, together with specialists in digital health standards for interoperability and middleware development were in attendance virtually.
Summary
report:
The final report for this consultation can be viewed at the link above, which summarizes key themes that emerged and outlines use cases on Go.Data interoperability approaches in Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Switzerland and Syrian Arab Republic.