Quito, 14 July 2026. As of today, Ecuador has a National Reference Commission for the Transition to and Implementation of the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Minister of Public Health Juan Carlos Aveiga participated in the meeting.
This national milestone, achieved with the support of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in Ecuador and the Universal Health Coverage Partnership (UHC Partnership) project, brings together technical experts and political decision-makers in this process of digital health transformation. It represents an unprecedented qualitative leap, as it fundamentally changes the way health information is recorded, analyzed, and shared.
Sonia Quezada, PAHO/WHO Representative in Ecuador, emphasized that ICD-11 was designed to integrate natively with modern systems, “so that data can flow securely and information can be compared across institutions, countries, and regions. In other words, to enable interoperability.”
Minister Aveiga stated that Ecuador is taking a major step toward modernizing its health information systems. “The implementation of ICD-11 represents the adoption of the international standard…for recording, classifying, and understanding diseases and other health-related conditions in a precise and consistent manner, in line with scientific and technological advances.”
The transition to the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is a strategic initiative included in PAHO’s Roadmap for the Digital Transformation of the Health Sector in the Region of the Americas and is aligned with current national policies.
Within this framework, the National Commission for the Transition to ICD-11 strengthens governance in this area by promoting coordination among key stakeholders, facilitating the adoption of international standards, and supporting the modernization of health information systems.
The Transition Committee comprises the Ministry of Public Health; the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Information Society; the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC); the Civil Registry; the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS); the units responsible for health within the National Police and the Armed Forces; the Society for the Fight Against Cancer (SOLCA); and the Association of Private Clinics and Hospitals of Ecuador.
More about ICD-11
ICD-11 is fully electronic and was designed from the outset to operate entirely within a digital environment, without relying on manual processes, physical documents, or external steps. It includes application programming interfaces (APIs), online tools, and a terminology framework that makes it possible to capture the clinical, epidemiological, and operational complexity of health services with greater precision.
It currently provides access to 17,000 diagnostic categories and more than 100,000 index terms for medical diagnosis. Its index-based search algorithm interprets more than 1.6 million terms.
This revision of the ICD includes improvements such as codes for antimicrobial resistance; codes for comprehensive patient safety documentation; detailed information for cancer registration; specific coding for the clinical stages of HIV infection; and extension codes for recording medicines and medical devices. These and other highly relevant improvements are aligned with the health challenges faced by countries around the world.
