India hosted the second Regional Open Digital Health Summit (RODHS) 2025 in New Delhi from 19 November, bringing together senior government representatives, global development agencies, and health-tech innovators from across South-East Asia.
Organised by the National e-Governance Division, the National Health Authority, WHO-SEARO, and UNICEF, the three-day summit focused on how Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), open standards, and technologies such as Generative AI can accelerate Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and strengthen regional health systems.
The inaugural session emphasised collaboration, interoperability, and equity as the foundation of sustainable digital health. Rajnish Kumar, COO of NeGD, stressed the urgency of a joint governance model between the health and technology ministries to ensure systems like ABDM, CoWIN, Aadhaar, and UPI remain secure and interoperable. Manoj Jhalani of WHO-SEARO highlighted the summit’s role in building regional capacity for interoperable platforms.
UNICEF’s Arjan de Wagt underscored that digital health must remain centred on communities, health workers, and children, noting that technology can strengthen resilience and improve care when applied equitably. Sunil Kumar Barnwal of NHA highlighted India’s success in building secure, scalable digital public goods, while Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava emphasised that health outcomes rely on multisector collaboration supported by national policies and technical standards.
A plenary session on open standards and DPI brought consensus on moving from fragmented pilot projects to large-scale digital health ecosystems. India’s CoWIN and ABDM were showcased as models of DPI-led innovation, while UNICEF stressed the importance of child rights and data protection.
Sessions on foundational DPI, FHIR adoption, and regional best practices explored how digital identity, payments, data exchange, registries, and global standards such as FHIR underpin resilient health systems. Speakers from South-East Asian countries and global institutions agreed that success must be measured by improved outcomes, cost efficiency, and empowerment of citizens—not digital adoption alone.
Sessions on Generative AI highlighted its potential to address fragmented data systems and improve diagnostics, patient engagement, and health records. Demonstrations from innovators including Ekacare, Google, NiramAI, Sunoh.AI, and IIT Delhi showcased real-world applications such as AI clinical scribes, early breast cancer detection, multilingual patient tools, and edge-based diagnostics.
The first day of RODHS 2025 reinforced the region’s commitment to building inclusive, interoperable, and secure digital health systems. Leaders and experts underscored that the future of UHC in South-East Asia will be shaped by open standards, robust DPI, and the responsible use of Generative AI.