Sanjay Kamalakar Juvekar

Name: Sanjay Kamalakar Juvekar

Affilitation: Consultant (Research), KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune

Title: Data for Digital Health Learning for Technologists- Is Indian Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems Network the Answer?

Area: Health & Demographic Surveillance Systems and digital health in India

Abstract: India is undoubtedly is moving very fast in exploiting digital technologies for betterment of health of its population. The technologists are in forefront of this task but do they have easy access to data that will help them help the populations? Answer is often yes with great difficulty. Where do young scientists get data to help their machines learn? If the public health data have limitations due to inadequately organised data or due to lack of knowledge of amidst data holders/creators on data sharing, do we look up to the newly established Indian health and demographic surveillance systems network to provide easy access (IndianHDSS)? As IndianHDSS is spread across the nation and its partners collect data from same populations at specific intervals for a longer duration of time, the network generates enormous longitudinal complex population data that would be the best suited data for any technologists to use for learning so as to enable best use of digital health in the country- be it demographic data, health data (community and hospital level), environment data, climate data or even OneHealth data, thereby helping the country achieve sustainable development goals in the stipulated timelines.