E-Helth America Latina Y El Caribe

e-Health in Latin America and the Caribbean. Progress and Challenges

ANDRÉS FERNÁNDEZ • ENRIQUE OVIEDO
Editors

e-Health in Latin America and the Caribbean: progress and challenges

e-HealtH
in latin america and
tHe caribbean:
Progress and challenges
andrés Fernández and enrique Oviedo
(editors)

This document was prepared by Andrés Fernández and Enrique
Oviedo of the EconomicCommission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), in the framework of the programme Alliance
for the Information Society, phase 2 (@LIS2), – Inclusive political
dialogue and exchange of experiences, carried out jointly by
ECLAC and the European Union.
The editors are grateful to Daniela Huneeus and Ignacio Carrasco,
ECLAC consultants, for their assistance in the preparation of
thisdocument.
The opinions expressed in this document, which has not
undergone formal editing, are the sole responsibility of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organization.

United Nations publication
LC/L.3252
Copyright © United Nations, July 2011. All rights reserved
Printed in United Nations, Santiago, Chile
Applications for the rights to reproduce all or part ofthis work are welcomed and should be sent to the
Secretary of the Publications Board, United Nations Headquarters, New York, N.Y. 10017, United States
of America. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior
authorization, but are requested to mention the source and inform the United Nations of such reproduction.

e-Health in Latin America and theCaribbean: progress and challenges

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
I .

Potentials of e-Health in the social and epidemiological
context of Latin America and the Caribbean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 11

II .

Background information and e-Health applications in Argentina . . . . . 25

III .

Telehealth initiatives in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

IV .

Information and communication technologies in health care:
enabling projects and applications in Chile . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

V .

e-Health in Colombia: regulations, applications and challenges . . . . . 53

VI .

Costa Rica’s Telesalud programme: experiences and challenges . . . . 61

VII .

e-Health development potentialities in Ecuador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

VIII . e-Health policies, programmes and projects in Mexico. . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
IX .

The National Telemedicine and Telehealth Programme in Panama . . . 101

X .

e-Health in Peru: an emerging issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

XI .

e-Health in Uruguay: development and challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

XII .

Technologicalprojects for e-Health in the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5

Index

XIII . Public health information systems in the Caribbean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
XIV . The e-Health experience in Spain: lessons for Latin America
andthe Caribbean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
XV .

Discussion and proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....