Global diffusion of eHealth: making universal health coverage achievable: Report of the third global survey on eHealth

This third global survey of the WHO Global Observatory for eHealth (GOe) investigated how eHealth can support universal health coverage(UHC) in Member States. A total of 125 countries participated in the survey ? a clear reflection of the growing interest in this area. The report considers eHealth foundations built through policy development, funding approaches and capacity building in eHealth through the training of students and professionals. It then observes specific eHealth applications such as mHealth, telehealth, electronic health records systems and eLearning and how these contribute to the goals of UHC. Of interest is the extent to which legal frameworks protect patient privacy in EHRs as health care systems move towards to delivering safer, more efficient, and more accessible health care. Finally the rapidly emerging areas of social media for health care as well as big data for research and planning are reported.