RIGA, LATVIA AND LONDON, UK – March 10, 2026 – SNOMED International welcomes the Republic of Latvia as its latest Member.
Latvia, one of three Baltic states in northern Europe, has a population of 1.8 million. With an advanced economy, the country is a member of the European Union (EU) and a number of other European trade and security organizations.
In 2023, the country launched a seven-year digital health strategy that defines the directions and tasks of the digital transformation of the health sector. With full Cabinet of Ministers’ approval in August 2023, the strategy targets a sweeping transformation of Latvia’s health ecosystem, leveraging EU Structural Funds and national investment to drive change.
Additionally, Latvia established a separate digital health data authority – SIA “Latvijas Digitālās veselības centrs”– to ensure an open and integrated digital health ecosystem.
Key goals of the strategy include digital transformation of the healthcare sector, focusing on interoperability, data availability for patients and professionals, and increased use of digital services such as telehealth and AI-powered tools. Other goals include enhancing health data management, boosting digital literacy among healthcare workers, and employing EU structural funds for implementation.
Minister of Health of Latvia Mr. Hosam Abu Meri sees SNOMED CT implementation in Latvia as an essential step for building a resilient and sustainable digital health ecosystem. “When clinicians document care using standardized clinical terminology, we reduce ambiguity, improve continuity of care, and enhance patient safety,” he said. “A shared language ensures that what is recorded in one hospital is understood in another, internationally as well. It also ensures that patients receive consistent and safe care wherever they are, as their medical information can be accurately understood and used across institutions and borders. Therefore, I am looking forward to the practical SNOMED CT implementation that is on the way for Latvia.”
Adopting and implementing the clinical terminology SNOMED CT will help the country achieve those goals. SNOMED CT, the most comprehensive, multilingual clinical healthcare terminology in the world, is a resource with comprehensive, scientifically validated clinical content that enables consistent representation of clinical content in electronic health records and is mapped to other international standards. It is used in more than 80 countries. When integrated into an electronic health record system, SNOMED CT, which incorporates more than 370,000 concepts, presents clinical information in ways that enable meaning-based retrieval, facilitating consistent reporting and analysis.
SNOMED International CEO Don Sweete hails Latvia’s decision to join SNOMED International as a pivotal step toward attaining the country’s digital health strategy goals and to continuing to improve key health indices such as lifespan, disease prevalence and health system performance, to name a few. It also opens the door to the experience and successes other European countries have enabled via the adoption of SNOMED CT, he notes. “European SNOMED International Members are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge and experience related to the adoption of SNOMED CT, and I know that Latvia can benefit from – and contribute to – that knowledge bank,” he says.
Learn more about SNOMED CT
Learn more about SNOMED International
Learn more about the Digital Health Centre of Latvia (Sākumlapa - SIA "Latvijas Digitālās veselības centrs)