India Hosts Regional Summit to Shape the Future of Open Digital Health in South-East Asia

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 ...