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Feature  Telemedicine Alliance partners
The Telemedicine Alliance is a cooperation between four international organisations, each of which is a leader in its particular field. The four partners are the European Commission (EC) via its Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and ESA. This project is sponsored by the European Commission and led by ESA. The European Space Agency (ESA)
Over the past two decades ESA has gained considerable experience in the development and use of telecommunications satellites, and in monitoring the health of Earth-orbiting space crews. ESA also has a wide experience of transmitting and receiving highly complex satellite data and implements state-of-the-art sensor technology. For these reasons two ESA departments are concerned with telemedicine: human spaceflight and telecommunications.
The Information Society Technologies (IST)Programme, which is part of the EC Information Society Directorate-General, sponsors the Telemedicine Alliance and is also one of the partners.
IST is charged with ensuring that Europe's citizens, governments and businesses continue to play a leading role in shaping and participating in the global information society. It does this by stimulating research into the development and deployment of new information and communication technologies; establishing and maintaining a framework of regulation and standards designed to generate competition; stimulating the development of applications and content, and supporting initiatives to encourage and enable all European citizens to participate in, and benefit from, the information society. The IST office, which is located in Brussels, Belgium, sponsors a number of eHealth project throughout Europe.
WHO is the UN specialised agency with primary responsibility for public health and international health matters. It has worldwide experience in matters of health and a special interest in the use of telemedicine for health surveillance, disease control and remote monitoring of health. The European WHO office for integrated health care services, based in Barcelona, Spain, is WHO's representative in the Telemedicine Alliance.
ITU is the UN specialised agency for telecommunications. It brings to the project its expertise in the area of telecommunication networks and applications, standardisation, development trends and data security.
The ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau (ITU-D), with its well-established programme of activities to develop and encourage the use of telecommunications, is the bureau responsible for participating in the TM Alliance. ITU-D is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Last update: 16 December 2004
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