The importance of contextual understanding in solving the last mile problem

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many global industries and shifted the digital health landscape by stimulating and accelerating the delivery of digital care. It has emphasized the need for a system level informatics implementation that supports the healthcare management of populations at a macro level while also providing the necessary support for front line care delivery at a micro level. From data dashboard to Telemedicine, this crisis has necessitated the need for health informatics transformation that can bridge time and space to provide timely care. However, heath transformation cannot solely rely on Health Information Technology (HIT) for progress, but rather success must be an outcome of system design focus on the contextual complexity of the health system where HIT is used. This conference highlights the important roles context plays for health informatics in global pandemics and aims to answer critical questions in four main areas: 1) health information management in the covid-19 context, 2) implementation of new practices and technologies in healthcare, 3) sociotechnical analysis of task performance and workload in healthcare, and 4) innovations in design and evaluation methods of health technologies. We deem this as a call to action to understand the importance of context while solving the last mile problem in delivering the informatics solutions that are needed to support our public health response.