Implementing electronic medical record systems in developing countries

The developing world faces a series of health crises including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis that threaten the lives of millions of people. Lack of infrastructure and trained, experienced staff are considered important barriers to scaling up treatment for these diseases. In this paper we explain why inf...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hamish Fraser, Paul Biondich, Deshen Moodley, Sharon Choi, Burke Mamlin, Peter Szolovits
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT 2005-06-01
Series:Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics
Subjects:
HIV
Online Access:http://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/585
Description
Summary:The developing world faces a series of health crises including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis that threaten the lives of millions of people. Lack of infrastructure and trained, experienced staff are considered important barriers to scaling up treatment for these diseases. In this paper we explain why information systems are important in many healthcare projects in the developing world. We discuss pilot projects demonstrating that such systems are possible and can expand to manage hundreds of thousands of patients. We also pass on the most important practical lessons in design and implementation from our experience in doing this work. Finally, we discuss the importance of collaboration between projects in the development of electronic medical record systems rather than reinventing systems in isolation, and the use of open standards and open source software.
ISSN:2058-4555
2058-4563