From March 5-8, 2010, the Communications and Society Program and Aspen Institute India held its 5th Annual Joint Roundtable on Communications Policy in Jaipur and New Delhi.

The topic was eHealth for India: The Issues Ahead.

Roundtable participants discussed innovative ways to expand eHealth to reach "unreachable" segments of Indian society, primarily in the villages and specifically for UN Millennium Development Goal 5, which targets maternal and newborn health.

Some of the ideas generated: to develop an integrated skills development program to train and certify eHealth paramedics in remote areas; to create a digital platform integrating eHealth players and services; to provide specific incentives for medical providers and consumers to participate in eHealth programs; and to create new eHealth Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a Knowledge Partner to this Roundtable, will initiate a Task Force on this topic to carry out solutions.

The Roundtable was held in Jaipur March 5-7, followed by a March 8 meeting in New Dehli, where the group presented their recommendations to Indian ministers and high level Government officials including: Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs; Dr. Sayeda Hameed, Member of Planning Commission, and Dinesh Trivedi, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

The Roundtable was made possible by AT&T, senior sponsor, and Accenture, Cisco, Intel, Matrix and VitalSpring Technologies, sponsors.