On 2 November, the Order of Malta’s Magistral Villa hosted a conference entitled “E-Health: from current experience to future opportunities”, an event organised on the margins of the G20 Health Summit under the presidency of the Italian Government and under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Health.

The main theme of the conference was the enormous transformation in the medical field due to the COVID-19 pandemic which, as Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel, Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta, said in his opening speech, “has accelerated the use of new and modern technologies and developed others“.

Senator Professor Pierpaolo Sileri, Italian Undersecretary for Health, also spoke, arguing how “it is important to discuss how to better facilitate the widest possible diffusion of e-health, not just as isolated projects, but as structured initiatives on a solid and shared basis“.

The conference was also attended remotely by the Minister of Health of the Republic of Benin, Benjamin Hounkpatin. Other participants included Elena Bottinelli, Head of Innovation and Sustainability at San Donato Group, Till Berger and Julia Opstals from German technology company Allm EMEA, Giovanni Ferigo, CEO of INWIT, and Edmund Le Brun, from Elephant Healthcare. The closing words were delivered by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life.