Big Data at the Service of the Public Health Systems

2022 ◽  
pp. 204-218
Author(s):  
Carlos Anezio Ribeiro de Souza Junior ◽  
Elezer M. B. Lemes ◽  
Nubia Boechat ◽  
Jorge Lima Magalhaes

The great differential of organizations has been the strategic innovation through the best way to manage existing knowledge. The management of information and knowledge generated in the health area is no different, as is the case with the pharmaceutical sector. The major challenge of public health research is to promote the use of scientific and technological knowledge produced in more effective health policy and action strategies in order to provide effective health gains. New technologies are promising tools to support public health management. The current scenario, in which the world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reinforced this understanding. This chapter aims to highlight the importance of using big data tools to make public health policies more effective. Examples of successful cases in different areas of Brazilian public management will be presented, aiming to reinforce the relevance of these tools for public health systems.

Author(s):  
Effy Vayena ◽  
Lawrence Madoff

“Big data,” which encompasses massive amounts of information from both within the health sector (such as electronic health records) and outside the health sector (social media, search queries, cell phone metadata, credit card expenditures), is increasingly envisioned as a rich source to inform public health research and practice. This chapter examines the enormous range of sources, the highly varied nature of these data, and the differing motivations for their collection, which together challenge the public health community in ethically mining and exploiting big data. Ethical challenges revolve around the blurring of three previously clearer boundaries: between personal health data and nonhealth data; between the private and the public sphere in the online world; and, finally, between the powers and responsibilities of state and nonstate actors in relation to big data. Considerations include the implications for privacy, control and sharing of data, fair distribution of benefits and burdens, civic empowerment, accountability, and digital disease detection.


Author(s):  
Chengfang Liu ◽  
Linxiu Zhang ◽  
Yaojiang Shi ◽  
Huan ZHOU ◽  
Alexis Medina ◽  
...  

Purpose Many public health systems have struggled with the dual questions of (1) why the uptake rate of maternal health services is low among some subpopulations; and (2) how to raise it. The objective of this study is to assess the uptake rate of a new set of maternal health services in poor rural areas of China. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on the survey responses of women’s representatives and village cadres from almost 1000 villages in June 2012 as part of a wide-scale public health survey in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces in the western part of China. Findings We find that the uptake rate of maternal health services (including in-hospital delivery, antenatal care visits and post-partum care visits) in poor rural areas of western China are far below average in China, and that the rates vary across provinces and ethnic groups. Our analyses demonstrate that distance, income, ethnicity and availability appear to be systematically correlated with low uptake rates of all maternal health services. Demand-side factors seem to be by far the most important sources of the differences between subpopulations. We also find that there is potential for creating a Conditional Cash Transfer program to improve the usage of maternal health services. Originality/value We believe that our results will contribute positively to the exploration of answers to the dual questions that many public health systems have struggled with (1) why the uptake rate of maternal health services is low among some subpopulations; and (2) how to raise it.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (Suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Denis Horgan ◽  
Walter Ricciardi

In the world of modern health, despite the fact that we've been blessed with amazing advances of late - the advent of personalised medicine is just one example - “change” for most citizens seems slow. There are clear discrepancies in availability of the best care for all, the divisions in access from country to country, wealthy to poor, are large. There are even discrepancies between regions of the larger countries, where access often varies alarmingly. Too many Member States (with their competence for healthcare) appear to be clinging stubbornly to the concept of “one-size-fits-all” in healthcare and often stifle advances possible through personalised medicine. Meanwhile, the legislative arena encompassing health has grown big and unwieldy in many respects. And bigger is not always better. The health advances spoken of above, an increased knowledge on the part of patients, the emergence of Big Data and more, are quickly changing the face of healthcare in Europe. But healthcare thinking across the EU isn't changing fast enough. The new technologies will certainly speak for themselves, but only if allowed to do so. Acknowledging that, this article highlights a positive reform agenda, while explaining that new avenues need to be explored.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-170
Author(s):  
Aimee Lee ◽  
Marta Lomazzi ◽  
Hyewon Lee ◽  
Raman Bedi

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (S4) ◽  
pp. 88-89
Author(s):  
Lawrence O. Gostin ◽  
Glen Safford ◽  
Deborah Erickson

The Turning Point Initiative is an initiative for which the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) and W.K. Kellogg foundations partnered in order to fund a group of states and a number of communities within each of those states to work through a planning process to look at ways to strengthen their public health systems at the state and local levels. Out of that process, the states and communities would come together at the national level to talk about what they had been learning and what the issues were. There were a number of issues that resonated with all of the states.


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