Thailand to Modernize Public Health Monitoring Through Digitization

Thailand’s Department of Disease Control and NSTDA unite to build a sustainable innovation system for digital disease surveillance, integrating big data, IoT, and AI to protect communities and ensure long-term readiness against future global health crises.

Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC), under the Ministry of Public Health, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), to create a modern disease surveillance system in the region. To realize the aim of being the most accurate system in the region, the MoU provides for developing big data systems, intelligent surveillance systems, and enhancing personnel capabilities in both ministries to proactively respond and prevent future health crises. The agreement will establish a framework for Thailand to work together with other nations on maintaining public health services.

Furthermore, the partnership will protect Thai people from new and recurring diseases while handling the threats posed by climate change. The MoU also envisions developing digital disease control information systems across the country. The partnership between DDC and NSTDA also calls for addressing systemic health challenges and supporting strategies for preventing diseases by building a national network of researchers and public health experts. According to NSTDA Director Dr. Chookiat Limpichamnong, “The initiative builds on earlier partnerships between the two agencies and will expand the application of technologies ‘more directly’ relevant to communities”.

Also, the two agencies demonstrated practical technology pathways that were co-developed, including platforms that support operations during the outbreak of a health emergency, public health alerts, secure identity and access management (zero-trust), real-time data platforms for big data and Internet of Things (IoT), and systems certifying digital vaccination. Moreover, as part of its future vision, NSTDA also proposed piloting a digital platform “Traffy Foundue” for citizen reports and urban health monitoring. Developing faster and more accurate test kits to transition towards “Smart Community Health” was also on the agenda. Moreover, the MoU recommended supporting Thailand’s long-term readiness and reducing socio-economic losses from future outbreaks by enabling personnel to strengthen their cross-functional skills across ministries. It also advised constructing a sustainable innovation system for disease control.