Background As a major public health crisis, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrates the urgent need for safe, effective, and evidence-based implementations of digital health. The urgency stems from the frequent tendency to focus attention on seemingly high promising digital health interventions despite being poorly validated in times of crisis.

Aim In this paper, we describe a joint call for action to use and leverage evidence-based health informatics as the foundation for the COVID-19 response and public health interventions. Tangible examples are provided for how the working groups and special interest groups of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) are helping to build an evidence-based response to this crisis.

Methods Leaders of working and special interest groups of the IMIA, a total of 26 groups, were contacted via e-mail to provide a summary of the scientific-based efforts taken to combat COVID-19 pandemic and participate in the discussion toward the creation of this manuscript. A total of 13 groups participated in this manuscript.

Results Various efforts were exerted by members of IMIA including (1) developing evidence-based guidelines for the design and deployment of digital health solutions during COVID-19; (2) surveying clinical informaticians internationally about key digital solutions deployed to combat COVID-19 and the challenges faced when implementing and using them; and (3) offering necessary resources for clinicians about the use of digital tools in clinical practice, education, and research during COVID-19.

Discussion Rigor and evidence need to be taken into consideration when designing, implementing, and using digital tools to combat COVID-19 to avoid delays and unforeseen negative consequences. It is paramount to employ a multidisciplinary approach for the development and implementation of digital health tools that have been rapidly deployed in response to the pandemic bearing in mind human factors, ethics, data privacy, and the diversity of context at the local, national, and international levels. The training and capacity building of front-line workers is crucial and must be linked to a clear strategy for evaluation of ongoing experiences.

背景技术 作为重大的公共卫生危机，新型冠状病毒病2019（COVID-19）大流行表明迫切需要安全，有效和有据可依的数字卫生实施。紧迫性源于经常出现的趋势，即尽管在危机时期尚未得到充分验证，但仍将注意力集中在看似很有前途的数字健康干预措施上。

目的 在本文中，我们描述了联合呼吁采取行动，以使用和利用循证健康信息学作为COVID-19反应和公共卫生干预措施的基础。提供了具体的例子，说明了国际医学信息学协会（IMIA）的工作组和特殊利益团体如何帮助建立基于证据的应对危机的措施。

方法 通过电子邮件与IMIA的工作组和特殊兴趣小组的负责人（共26个小组）进行了联系，以总结为打击COVID-19大流行而采取的基于科学的努力，并参与了有关创建COVID-19大流行的讨论。这个手稿。共有13个小组参加了该手稿。

结果 IMIA成员做出了各种努力，其中包括：（1）在COVID-19期间制定基于证据的数字健康解决方案设计和部署指南；（2）在国际范围内对临床信息学家进行调查，以了解为应对COVID-19而部署的关键数字解决方案以及在实施和使用它们时面临的挑战；（3）为临床医生提供有关COVID-19期间在临床实践，教育和研究中使用数字工具的必要资源。

讨论 在设计，实施和使用数字工具来对抗COVID-19时，需要考虑严谨和证据，以避免延误和不可预见的负面后果。使用多学科方法来开发和实施已经针对流感大流行而快速部署的数字卫生工具，同时要考虑到人为因素，道德，数据隐私以及地方​​，国家和地方环境的多样性。国际水平。一线工人的培训和能力建设至关重要，必须与评估持续经验的明确战略联系起来。