The evolution of advanced digital telecommunication techniques has enabled the development of multimedia systems to support e-health  applications, in particular in the area of telemedicine.

In order to allow for a wide deployment of e-health applications (with an initial focus on telemedicine applications), in particular in developing countries, it is important to achieve interoperability among systems and to reduce the cost of devices through economies of scale. Consequently, the development of global international standards with the involvement of the major players (such as governments, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, medical institutions and medical doctors) is a key factor to achieve these objectives.

In the Standardization Sector of the ITU (ITU-T), this is handled by Question 28/16 (Multimedia framework for e-health applications), which focuses on standardization of Multimedia Systems to support e-health applications. Question 28 is allocated under ITU-T Study Group 16, which is the Lead Study Group on ubiquitous applications (“e-everything”, such as e-health and e-business). This high-level Question will coordinate the technical standardization of multimedia systems and capabilities for e-health applications in ITU-T and will develop corresponding Recommendations.

• Background information on the creation of the group

The Rapporteur group meets regularly at scheduled Study Group 16 meetings (check here for the schedule of meetings) and conducts interim work via correspondence (t05sg16ehmmf@ties.itu.int). Subscription to this mailing list can be obtained using the TIES interface (for TIES account holders); alternatively, subscription can be requested to the ITU-T SG 16 Secretariat.