State of Telemedicine Globally

A WHO survey looked at four types of telemdicine and how established each was in the world. The survey looked at teleradiology (use of ICT to transmit x-rays to another location for interpretation/consultation), telepathology (use of ICT to transmit microscopic images of cells for interpretation/consultation), teledermatology (use of ICT to transmit medical information concerning skin conditions for interpretation/consultation), and telepsychiatry (use of ICT for psychiatric evaluation/consultation via video or telephone. The levels of development were classified as: established (continuous service supported by government or other funds), pilot (testing and evaluation of the service), or informal (services not part of an organized program).

Above are the results of the survey. It is important to note that, teleradiology is has the highest rate of established service for the four categories. It has over 60% of responding countries offering some form of service.

The results are also broken down by region for the same four categories of telemedicine and ranked on the same three criteria.

It's important to note in the findings that Africa and Middle Eastern Regions had the lowest proportion of countries with established telemedicine services. These two regions also had the highest proportion of informal services offered. 

My next blog post will highlight various countries in case studies of their telemedicine programs.