DIPoH, a European structure for health data

In early June, the Health Data Hub and Santé publique France announced their support for the creation of DIPoH, a European structure to better contribute to improving the health of populations.

The Health Data Hub (HDH) and Santé Publique France are supporting the creation of a European health data organization: DIPoH (Distributed Infrastucture on Population Health). They thus join the European federated health information infrastructure.

Visibility and availability of health data

The objective of DIPoH is to better integrate and strengthen the health information and data networks in Europe by offering a European metadata catalog as well as training for “Facilitate collaboration and the exchange of good practices between European countries concerning the collection, exchange, evaluation, accessibility and reuse of health data ”, explain Public Health France and the HDH in a press release issued on June 3. They reaffirm their desire to improve the health of populations, specifying that this opens a new chapter in their contribution to the European Health Data Area (EEDS).

“For Public Health France, supporting the creation of this infrastructure with the Health Data Hub means contributing, in the continuity of InfAct, to promoting the development of digital technology in public health and benefiting from its contributions in its action at the service of populations. Using its new technologies and producing from them solid and shared analyzes at European level will allow[ont] to improve quality in the surveillance of the state of health of populations and the assessment of the burden of diseases and their determinants ”, specifies Geneviève Chêne, Director General of Public Health France.

European dynamics

The creation of DIPoH therefore extends and perpetuates the common European action on health information (InfAct – Information for Action), which was launched in 2018 by the European Commission and is coordinated by the scientific institute of Belgian public health Sciensano. It is already supported by around twenty European structures which have signed Memorandum of Understanding or provided a letter of political supportThe project is also a candidate for the European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures (Esfri) which encourages the development of research infrastructures within the European Union.

“Participation in DIPoH is fully in line with the strategic orientations of the Health Data Hub, for the year 2021 and beyond. In its ambition to federate the health data ecosystem in France, the HDH will be able, through DIPoH, to promote the experiences and excellence of multiple French players. As a member of DIPoH, the HDH will be able to contribute to the structuring and prioritization of the DIPoH roadmap. Finally, the HDH will be able to bring to the French ecosystem new knowledge on European trends and good practices in health data sharing, obtained through interactions within the framework of DIPoH ”, underlines Stéphanie Combes, Managing Director of the Health Data Hub.

Moreover, the HDH and Santé publique France are also collaborating with other French partners on the TEHDas project. TEHDas is coordinated by the Finnish innovation agency Sitra for “Develop a legal framework and best practices for data exchange”, indicates Public Health France. These two projects complementary participate in the creation of the EEDS.

data, health, health data, HDS

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