Digital Health for Australia: Bridging the Rural, Regional, and Remote Health Gap
In rural Australia, recent trends reveal an exponential increase in the rates of physical inactivity, central obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cancer in the population. The limited rural health workforce, which is struggling to meet this growing burden, is boosted by digital technologies such as My Health Record, Cardihab, Healthdirect, and MindSpot, all of which offer opportunities for improved diagnostics, monitoring, and management of chronic diseases. However, implementing proven digital health technologies in rural communities has been challenging on numerous fronts. This perspective aims to (1) highlight the rural health gap and propose a way forward in implementing evidence-based digital health technologies in the rural, regional, and remote communities of Australia and (2) guide future rural health policy.
Authors
- Setognal Birara Aychiluhm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7565-7515)
- Allen G. Ross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2329-0907)
- Kedir Y. Ahmed (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3797-5234)
- Santosh Giri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5186-7814)
- Feleke Hailemichael Astawesegn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6435-8405)
- Subash Thapa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1182-8511)
- Mohammad Ali Moni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0756-1006)
- Utpal K. Mondal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7579-6678)
- Anayochukwu Edward Anyasodor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1928-7657)
- M. Mamun Huda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1069-3472)
- Shakeel Mahmood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0599-3761)
- Muhammad J A Shiddiky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9461-9888)
Institutions
- Charles Sturt University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Interactive Journal of Medical Research
- Published
- 2025-12-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.2196/67460
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.88