Nursing and Informatics for the 21st Century – Embracing a Digital World, 3rd Edition
Book 4: Nursing in an Integrated Digital World that Supports People, Systems, and the Planet
2022 Productivity Press: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003281047
Chapter 2
Authors: Rohana Basil Marasinghe, Ranige Maheshika Madhuwanthi
This chapter discusses the World Health Organization’s concept of health equity and equal access to healthcare using the specific example of Sri Lanka. We introduce the healthcare models in Sri Lanka and present a brief account of the Sri Lankan healthcare system to illustrate its unique circumstances and the progress it is making in its goal of providing quality healthcare to all. We include some examples of telehealth and digital application initiatives that nurses are currently using and describe how digital technologies could help to support care access and improve population health in Sri Lanka. Given its affordability, high adoption of mobile phones and ease of implementing, we suggest that digital technologies have the potential to be a key enabler in the global goal of improving health equity and making care access available to every citizen in every country.