From 795805f7b425b12930e6f86db7efb2978f893df0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mary Pitt Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2024 14:47:21 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] iteration 1 --- aboutVCS.html | 9 +++--- cloud_p_newVCS.html | 14 ++++----- devices_p_newVCS.html | 10 +++--- dm_newVCS.html | 61 ++++++++++++++++++------------------ howto.html | 6 ++-- index.html | 12 +++---- info.html | 7 +++-- localserver_dm_p_newVCS.html | 6 ++-- ma_newVCS.html | 18 +++++------ newVCS.html | 16 +++++----- p_newVCS.html | 10 +++--- software_p_newVCS.html | 25 +++++++-------- sr_newVCS.html | 17 +++++----- thesaurus.html | 4 +-- tool_dev.html | 4 +-- 15 files changed, 108 insertions(+), 111 deletions(-) diff --git a/aboutVCS.html b/aboutVCS.html index 7a04dab..7583d66 100644 --- a/aboutVCS.html +++ b/aboutVCS.html @@ -20,8 +20,7 @@

Green Digital Health Tool

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Green Digital Health Tool

Why is it important to consider environmental issues in Digital Health?

Digital technologies and infrastructure have environmental impacts associated with the energy needed to collect, store, process, and analyse data. While it is extremely difficult to quantify, estimates suggest that the digital sector accounts for between 2.1-3.9% of global greenhouse emissions (Freitag 2021). The digital sector also has environmental impacts associated with the mining of natural resources needed to build digital technologies and infrastructure; the use of other resources, such as water, to provide systems to cool digital servers during use, and the disposal of electronic/hardware waste. It is important that we mitigate these environmental impacts as much as possible, not only to protect the environment, but also as a commitment to health, since environmental impacts adversely affect health, both directly and indirectly.

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There is evidence that digital health has the potential to reduce the environmental impacts of healthcare in certain scenarios, for example where virtual care is expected to simply “replace” in person care. However, there are multiple caveats around this, and many scenarios in which digital health is not expected to be a “replacement”. It is therefore important to consider the environmental impacts of any digital health service.

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This is not to say that environmental concerns should always be the primary criterion when deciding whether to go with a Digital Health Service. In lower to middle income countries where health coverage may be limited, the fact that a virtual care service is not replacing an in person service should not mean it should not go ahead - it may be the only way of providing healthcare. Even if it is complementing an existing service, transport costs may relatively be much greater than in higher income countries, and this might put the existing in person service out of reach of many people. Furthermore a virtual care service may be a more resilient method of providing care in a region particularly exposed to climate related challenges such as flooding or extreme heat, again more typically found in LMIcs. Ultimately the balance of economic, human and environmental health, and social justice, will play out differently in every place and time and this tool is not recommending a one size fits all approach.

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Finally we should acknowledge that digital technology can be very useful in adapting to climate change. It can, for example, be used to create early warning systems for flooding or extreme heat. Such systems can dramatically reduce the impact of such extreme events on health services. It can also make health initiatives much more resilient to the impacts of climate change, although this does require advance planning. For example a virtual care service may be much easier to keep running in the event of flooding than a conventional health service where patients had to travel to clinics just to be assessed.

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There is evidence that digital health systems have the potential to reduce the environmental impacts of healthcare in certain scenarios, for example when used in the clinical setting to “replace” in person care. However, there are multiple caveats around this, and many scenarios may lead to digital health systems not reducing environmental burdens as much as anticipated. It is therefore important to consider the environmental impacts of digital health systems.

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This does not take away the importance of the need for digital health systems to meet health needs. This is particularly the case in low and middle income countries where health coverage may be limited, and digitalisation may be the only way to meet unmet health needs – not only because of poor infrastructure and lack of healthcare facilities in remote locations, but also because transport costs to reach healthcare facilities may be prohibitive. Digital health systems also offer a way for healthcare systems to adapt and become more resilient to adverse environmental events, particularly in regions exposed to climate related challenges such as flooding. They can also be used to create early warning systems for flooding or extreme heat.

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Ultimately balancing economic, human and environmental health, and social justice, will play out differently in every place and time and this tool is not recommending a one size fits all approach. Rather, it is highlighting the questions that need to be answered when considering the environmental sustainability of digital health systems, and the context against which those answers should be considered.

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Green Digital Health Tool

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How to use this site

Cloud Hosting

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How to use this site

+ Temporal shifting means making best use of periods when renewables are powering the grid - so maximizing the data processing undertaken during these times.

Spatial shifting means allowing your processing to run at a data centre in a different location when the energy supply to the primary data centre is low in renewables.

Clearly the degree to which you can fine-tune a Digital Health system may be limited – data processing to provide monitoring, for example, may need to be happening constantly. But there may be considerable flexibility around other processing, such as reporting and data maintenance tasks.
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How to use this site

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How to use this site

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+ The proliferation, scale, and rate of technological evolution and environmental impacts of data centres are making this an increasingly important question.
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Green Digital Health Tool

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How to use this site

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How to use this site

+ If you are procuring your digital health system as an ongoing managed service, or if your service provider is responsible for maintaining your devices, put this question, and the following questions on this page, to your service provider.
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Green Digital Health Tool

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How to use this site

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Collecting, storing, and/or processing data

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2. Collecting, storing, and/or processing data

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2.1 What data do you plan on collecting, storing and/or processing over the next decade, on an annual basis? Are you aware of any other planned or existing Digital Service that is collecting part or all of this data?


If you are planning on developing any of the software for the Digital Health System in house you should look at these software related questions.

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