How Technology is Helping to Reimagine Public Health

Public health is integral to protecting and improving the safety and health of communities through outreach, policy-making, research, health programs and interventions. It relies on an underlying infrastructure that provides communities and nations with the capacity to prevent disease, promote population health and prepare for and respond to health threats. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed global public health infrastructure limitations that left us unprepared for the next global health event. As the world enters a post-COVID era, technology enables us to reimagine public health, to achieve more resilient health systems, stronger governance, and better coordination and collaboration among stakeholders and jurisdictions.

The pandemic put an enormous strain on public health agencies, from critical shortages of personal protective equipment to worker burnout and staff shortages to health service backlogs. But it also sparked rapid mobilization and organizational change on a global scale that has never been seen before. It forced stakeholders to respond with improved coordination, technology, regulatory relief and much-needed funding. And it brought public health together with private sector organizations to tackle issues such as emergency response, resource management, contact tracing, and the largest global vaccination campaign in history.

There’s never been a better time to reimagine public health. COVID-19 increased citizens’ awareness of, and expectations for, public health. The rapid response to the pandemic by both public and private organizations at all levels of government and globally has demonstrated how technology can transform public health practice. 

Public Sector Network has partnered with Salesforce to release a whitepaper entitled “How Technology is Helping to Reimagine Public Health” focusing on the challenges in modernizing public health and highlighting several case studies that help to reimagine public health solutions.