Making HIS More Agile, Relevant and Public Health Friendly: Lessons from Covid-19 in India

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundeep Sahay ◽  
Arunima S Mukherjee ◽  
Carolyn K Tauro ◽  
Arijit Sen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
Public Health Information

Anthony Giddens, the noted sociologist, describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘digidemic,’ emphasizing the inextricable linkages between the pandemic and the digital. As the pandemic has spread globally, countries have adopted different strategies to leverage digital technologies, in their design, development, implementation, and governance to address the pandemic. Some of these strategies have worked well and others have not so. We submitted this paper at the time when India was fighting the first COVID-19 wave and are submitting this revised version as India fights a much tougher second wave. And between these two waves, we have witnessed some flattening of the COVID-19 curve and the onset of a rigorous vaccination drive. This paper aims to try to analyse some experiences of how countries leveraged digital technologies in their information systems response, such as from Sri Lanka, South Korea and anchored in a historical understanding of public Health Information Systems (HIS) in India, build key learnings for strengthening HIS in India, both for pandemic situations and also routine health management. These include i) improving agility, reflecting the ability of the HIS to provide timely information for supporting local action; ii) improving relevance, implying providing required information for supporting the desired action for different stakeholders; and, iii) public friendliness, implying the HIS should help support population health at large in an equitable manner. We argue that these learnings are not only relevant for strengthening the HIS response to pandemic management but also more broadly for strengthening Indian public HIS covering routine systems. These learnings are particularly pertinent in the current ‘digital’ context in India, where large-scale interventions related to the National Digital Health Mission are currently being planned and implemented. For good or bad, the ‘digital’ is inevitable in public health systems globally, and it becomes important for researchers and practitioners to engage with this process of understanding the digital interventions and contribute to strengthening the health systems.

scholarly journals Workshop: EUPHA and Europe-wide action on digital public health

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
World Health ◽  
Collaborative Action ◽  
European Public ◽  
The World

Abstract The World Health Assembly Resolution on Digital Health unanimously approved by WHO Member States in May 2018 demonstrated a collective recognition of the value of digital technologies to contribute to advancing universal health coverage (UHC) and other health aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Health Organization has just released first ever guideline on digital interventions for health system strengthening. Et the European level, in June 2018 the WHO Regional Office for Europe launched the WHO/Europe initiative for Digitalization of Health Systems and in February 2019 organized the first Symposium on the Future of Digital Health Systems in the European Region. The European Commission in April 2018 published a Communication on Digital transformation of health and care in the digital single market and requested the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in health (EXPH) to release an evidence-based opinion on how to assess the impact of digital transformation of health services. In such context, the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) has at an early stage acknowledged and understood the crucial importance of applying the potential offered by digitalization to public health. Not only its most prominent members work and research as WHO and EC experts on how to plan, implement and evaluate effective digital public health interventions, but EUPHA itself - as umbrella organization representing public health associations and institutes across Europe had: i) actively participated to the WHO Euro Symposium successfully co-organizing a session on the ‘beautiful marriage’ between digitalization and public health, ii) supported the publication of a EJPH supplement on digital health and iii) has planned to create a EUPHA Section on Digital Health. With the overall goal of positioning the proposed EUPHA Section on Digital Health in the enriching and constructive context of the European Public Health Conference the workshop specifically aims to: present a comprehensive conceptual framework for the application of digital technologies to public health in Europe;present and report on EUPHA collaborative action on digital health, aligned with European institutions;present the structure and content of the EJPH supplement on digital health;present the general aim, specific objectives, scope, mission and preliminary outputs of the proposed EUPHA Section on Digital Health, as well as its synergy with other EUPHA’s Section workPresent the results of two/three specific projects on digital public health to serve as concrete examples of the application of digital solutions to public healthEngage with the audience to promote the active participation of the broader EUPHA community to the activities of the Section, collect interests and best practices, and share ideas and projects worth scaling up at the Section-level. Key messages The ‘beautiful marriage’ between digitalization and public health has to be concretely planned, implemented and evaluated. EUPHA action on digital public health can be further strengthened through the collaborative action and work of its dedicated Section.

Building a master health facility list: innovative Indian experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
Amit Mishra ◽  
Sundeep Sahay
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Health Management ◽  
State Level ◽  
Health Facilities ◽  
Family Welfare ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
National Public Health ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Share Data

Adoption of information technology in healthcare has in recent years improved the process of information collection, analysis and use in the Indian public health system. However, it has also led to multiplicity of information systems. Currently, a good amount of data is being generated by various health management information systems (HMISs); however, usability of these data sets is limited owing to lack of technical and institutional ability to share data with other systems. The lack of an effective standard list of health facilities is one of the major impediments to building interoperability among these multiple systems. To overcome this challenge, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has initiated a programme to build a master facility list (MFL) known as National Identification Number to Health Facilities. Facility data from two leading national public health information systems, which were routinely reporting health data since 2008, were selected for this purpose. Common facilities were placed on an online portal for verification by state-level and district-level officers. Currently, this portal holds more than 200 000 verified public health facilities. Use of facility data from existing systems has helped to quickly populate the MFL in India. However, design limitations of the existing systems were also translated to the facility portal. Some lay challenges to sustain and evolve this portal in the future include (1) integration of other HMISs holding facility data with the MFL, (2) public notification of standards for MFL, (3) comprehensive data quality audit of existing MFL facility data and (4) establishment of robust governance mechanisms. We discuss how the benefits from this exercise in technical innovation can be materialised more effectively in practice.

Current State of (Dis)Integration: Public Health and Fusion Centers

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody Minks ◽  
Anke Richter
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Public Health Information

AbstractObjectiveResponding to large-scale public health emergencies relies heavily on planning and collaboration between law enforcement and public health officials. This study examines the current level of information sharing and integration between these domains by measuring the inclusion of public health in the law enforcement functions of fusion centers.MethodsSurvey of all fusion centers, with a 29.9% response rate.ResultsOnly one of the 23 responding fusion centers had true public health inclusion, a decrease from research conducted in 2007. Information sharing is primarily limited to information flowing out of the fusion center, with little public health information coming in. Most of the collaboration is done on a personal, informal, ad-hoc basis. There remains a large misunderstanding of roles, capabilities, and regulations by all parties (fusion centers and public health). The majority of the parties appear to be willing to work together, but there but there is no forward momentum to make these desires a reality. Funding and staffing issues seem to be the limiting factor for integration.ConclusionThese problems need to be urgently addressed to increase public health preparedness and enable a decisive and beneficial response to public health emergencies involving a homeland security response.

scholarly journals Public health platforms: an emerging informatics approach to health professional learning and development

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Gray
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professional ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Design Of Learning Environments

Health informatics has a major role to play in optimising the management and use of data, information and knowledge in health systems. As health systems undergo digital transformation, it is important to consider informatics approaches not only to curriculum content but also to the design of learning environments and learning activities for health professional learning and development. An example of such an informatics approach is the use of large-scale, integrated public health platforms on the Internet as part of health professional learning and development. This article describes selected examples of such platforms, with a focus on how they may influence the direction of health professional learning and development.

Development of Web GIS Based Framework for Public Health Management System Using ERDAS Apollo 2010

2019 ◽  
pp. 239-253
Author(s):  
Shipra Verma
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Health Information Systems ◽  
Web Gis ◽  
Gis Technology ◽  
Java Server Pages ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
The Web

This paper proposes a framework for an essential creation of a public health information visualization platform, for Japanese Encephalitis (JE) disease outbreaks in the Gorakhpur district, India. The Web GIS technology is used with ERDAS Apollo 2010 software at customized level, to develop architecture for Web GIS-based public health information systems. A GUI has been created using Java Server Pages (JSP) for its customization. This will help in extending the benefit of GIS and Web technology for public availability in the area for preparation of the health plan in multitier system.

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