Development Issues: Health, HIV/AIDS, Technology.

Programme Summary

The Department of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe is a well-established medical services actor in Zimbabwe that has initiated a number of programs to increase the health care capacity in the region. Many of these projects have been developed in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through its Division of International Health (DIH) and the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Informatics (DPHSI).

Focusing on responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe, the HIS is being designed to foster the development and use of informatics tools to evaluate public health interventions conducted by the CEPHI. It will also provide technical support and design information tools/systems for health care providers and organisations to facilitate the delivery of public health services.

Summary of ICT Initiatives

Health Informatics is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with the resources, devices, and methods of storage, retrieval, and management of biomedical information for problem solving and decision-making. Information systems measure the status and determinants of the population's health. The information is used to improve the strategies and processes for health delivery and the capacity of the health system to respond to the needs of the community. DIH and the DPHSI work with its partners to design, implement, and evaluate health information systems and to integrate and strengthen existing information systems. [Click here for more information] Though still in its formative stages, HIS expects to provide these services:

• Technical support
• By establishing an expert core group that supports HIV/AIDS interventions
• By assisting with cooperative and multidisciplinary research
• By creating special awareness about assessment of published research information and improving the access to and the dissemination of best current knowledge relevant to public health interventions in HIV/AIDS
• Training and support in use of general Information Communication Technology (ICT) applications to members of CEPHI.
• Training and support in the use of specific applications like EpiInfo2000. A specialized piece of software that allows epidemiologists and other public health and medical professionals can rapidly develop a questionnaire or form, customize the data entry process, and enter and analyze data.
• HIS will also support curriculum development for public health informatics training through the Department of Community Medicine and other key role-players and will provides direct involvement in teaching

Among additional proposed activities is the creation of a low-cost CD-ROM of electronic resource material for teaching and learning about Drug Management in Zimbabwe that would include an update on existing course material.

The long-term plan involves developing HIS as a local and regional training centre for computer literacy training, Epi-Info, specialized training courses, training courses for end-users on information retrieval and development of critical appraisal skills, and "training of trainers" courses. This centre might also provide an expert group that could help develop national systems of linked and integrated population-level health databases, foster evidence-based public health policy and practice, and design computer-assisted learning materials to enhance teaching/learning capacity in national health training institutions.

The long-term strategic plan for HIS will be determined by the Department of Community Medicine in collaboration with key stakeholders (public and private sector, NGOs, and other donor-funded programmes) in the country. A wide range of such organisations attended a meeting in June 2002 to suggest specific priorities for CEPHI over the coming years.

Source: Letter sent from Klara Tisocki to The Communication Initiative on July 1, 2002, and Centers for Disease Control.

For More Information Contact:

Dr. Klara Tisocki

Health Informatics Section

Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Information

University of Zimbabwe

Medical School

PO Box A178

Harare, Zimbabwe

Tel.: 263 4 707707 ext. 2120

Fax: 263 4 790233

Mobile: 091 402 572

ktisocki@healthnet.zw

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