Health

Information Technology and

Telecommunication Support
in the
Eastern Mediterranean Region

Presented by:
Dr. Najeeb Al-Shorbaji
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Information has a role

An essential prerequisite for the
attainment of the goal of health for all
is the continued free flow of
information on health and biomedical
topics within WHO, between the
Organization and Member States,
and among Member States.
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Introduction: purpose

Where and how information and

communication technology can
contribute to the improvement of
health care

Function of information
management
Obtain,
Manage and
Use information to improve the
health care and medical services
performance, governance, and
management and support process

Health and medical

informatics in the Eastern
Mediterranean Region: a
situation analysis

Situation analysis
A questionnaire was sent to 20
countries in the Region;
18 countries replied (90%);
Three sets of questions were
provided to assess informatics and
telematics facilities and services;
Two groups of countries emerged:
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Group 1: IT infrastructure
is available
Ministry of Health has a
Department for Informatics and
telematics;
There is a Local Area Network;
A special annual budget for
health informatics and
telematics is allocated;
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 A planning/evaluation study of
Ministry IT needs was
conducted;
The Ministry has a functional
internet web site;

Group 2: IT infrastructure
and policies are available
There is functional national health
information system;
There is national science and
technology information policy;
There is national master plan for health
informatics and telematics;
There is specially designed computer
centre at the Ministry
There is intranet site at the Ministry.
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Ranking of applications
most available in
countries the Region

1. Health statistics, epidemiological

surveillance and trend analysis
databases;
2. Management information systems;
3. Information technology training;
4. Hospital management systems;

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Ranking of applications
least available in
countries of the Region
12. Full-text database(s) for laws,
legislation, regulations, etc.
13. Computer-based directory of health and
medical education (Colleges of Medicine,
Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, etc.)
14. E-Health, telemedicine, tele-radiology,
tele-pathology services
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Impediments to the
development of health and
medical informatics in the
Region

Impediments
Lack of awareness;
Lack of vision;
Lack of affordability;
Limited medical informatics expertise;
Weakness of the information
infrastructure;
Absence of legal, legislative, ethical and
constitutional framework.
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Divisions and Departments

a) Department of Management Support;
b) Department of Health For All Policy & Strategy
Support:
a) Health Information Management and
Telecommunications
1. Division of Administration and Finance (DAF)
2. Division of Integrated Control of Diseases (DCD)
3. Division of Health Protection and Promotion (DHP)
4. Division of Health Services Development (DHS)

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Health Information Support

HIT unit which is entrusted in all
ICT issues at the Regional Office,
comprises of four integrated subunits:
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HIT Subunits:
1. Health Literature Services;
2. Distribution and Sales;
3. AIDS Information Exchange Centre;
4. Informatics Management and
Telecommunication.
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Informatics Management and

Telecommunication
Provision of services related to the Regional
Office and WHO Representatives offices
with:
Information technology infrastructure;
Telecommunications infrastructure;
Provision of ICT support to member states in
development of national health information
systems.
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Human Resources
40 staff work for the Unit:
Librarians (5)
Programmers (9)
Web designers (2)
Systems Engineers (6)
Technical Support Staff (8)
Clerks (9)
Consultants and temporary advisors.

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Information Technology
Hardware:
22 network servers
380 workstations
70 portable computers
150+ printers
3 CD-Servers
Routers, Switches and Firewalls
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Information Technology
Software:
ISIS family (DOS, WINDOWS,
WEB);
Microsoft SQL;
IIS, ASP, and FrontPage;
FolioViews;
Other small databases on
ACCESS.

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Development and Maintenance

of EMRO Intranet

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Development and Maintenance

of EMRO Web Site

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Internet support to EMR

countries
Support to establish Internet
connections for health institutions;
Support to establish Internet
presence (web sites for Ministries
of Health);
Training on Internet technology.
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Education and Training

National training courses;
Conferences, professional meetings and
Seminars;
Fellowships;
Internships.

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Development, maintenance and

distribution of UMD

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e-Health and telemedicine

Consultation and assessment of needs;
Provision of training;
Logistics support for equipment and
software;
Professional meetings and conferences;
Policy setting national planning.

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32

Health Sciences Virtual Library

Union Catalogue of Medical Journals ;
Directories of health sciences libraries,
depository libraries, focal points in the Region;
EMR Health Sciences Library Listserv;
Hosting of medical library sites on the EMRO
web;
Digital Institutional Memory project;
Databank of Technical Papers and PowerPoint
Presentations.
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Development and
deployment of
computer applications
for health care
management

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Management
information systems
Provision of software for planning,
programming, budgeting,
implementation and monitoring,
evaluation and re-planning of WHO
collaborative programme;
Expert systems
Decision support systems.

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Epidemiological surveillance
Provision of software to
computerise disease surveillance
and registration of cases over the
Internet. Publishing of health
statistics and trends on the
Internet;

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Geographic Information
Systems (GIS)
Provision of software for:

+
management of spatial database to record
record digital coordinates features of
geographic areas (digital maps of
countries);

Management of attribute database to

record characteristics or qualities of the
spatial features (health statistics,
resources, etc).

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Computer-based medical
records
Development of model
computer-based medical
record;
Assistance to member states
to computerize medical
records;
Raise awareness on issues of
Confidentiality and privacy.
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Online access to literature

and information services
Provision of access to databases
and networked CD-ROM;
Enabling access to electronic
journals;
Establishment of discussion
groups, newsgroups and Listservs;
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Provision of off-line health

literature services
176 sets of CD-ROM;
Of which 91 are MEDLINE and 27 sets
of IPCS INTOX & INCHEM;
Provided to 91 libraries in the Region;
Costing over $ 140,00;
1147 journals subscriptions;
Provided to 211 sites in the Region;
Costing over US$ 961,000.

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Q&A

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