scholarly journals Informatics Metrics and Measures for a Smart Public Health Systems Approach: Information Science Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Jay Carney ◽  
Christopher Michael Shea
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Public Health Informatics ◽  
Healthcare Delivery System ◽  
Public Health Systems

Public health informatics is an evolving domain in which practices constantly change to meet the demands of a highly complex public health and healthcare delivery system. Given the emergence of various concepts, such as learning health systems, smart health systems, and adaptive complex health systems, health informatics professionals would benefit from a common set of measures and capabilities to inform our modeling, measuring, and managing of health system “smartness.” Here, we introduce the concepts of organizational complexity, problem/issue complexity, and situational awareness as three codependent drivers of smart public health systems characteristics. We also propose seven smart public health systems measures and capabilities that are important in a public health informatics professional’s toolkit.

Understanding Public Health Informatics in Context of Health in Low and Middle-Income Countries

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundeep Sahay ◽  
T Sundararaman ◽  
Jørn Braa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Clinical Information ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Public Health Informatics ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Health Programmes

This chapter places public health informatics within a public health context. An understanding of PHI must be built on the perspective of public health as the health of populations. In LMICs it is closely related to an understanding of the primary healthcare approach, and the role and functions of public health systems, including the measurement of health status and equity, the effective coverage of different health programmes, and the utilization of different health services. This requires an understanding of the social and environmental determinants of healthcare, which need relevant data from other sectors as well. The architecture and development of public health informatics varies across nations and is path-dependent and context-specific. Many have evolved as monitoring support to externally financed vertical programmes, some as support for comprehensive primary health programmes and some from support systems for health insurance. The current information needs of health systems, transcends their respective origins, and requires both individual-based clinical information and aggregate population-based data.

scholarly journals Challenges of healthcare delivery in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-109
Author(s):  
Bamidele Johnson Alegbeleye ◽  
◽  
Rana Kadhim Mohammed ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
Public Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
Sub Saharan

Introduction: Public health security is concerned with infection prevention and control worldwide. These measures are the concern of all and sundry to ensure prevention of any outbreaks of diseases that has epidemic potential. Africa may be uniquely positioned to have the most severe and under-detected outcomes related to COVID-19 infection. This article seeks to highlight such challenges of healthcare delivery systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The communique also suggests possible strategies for improvement in such settings. Method: We identified relevant articles to date using a manual library search, journal publications on the subject, and critically reviewed them. Results: We identified and exhaustively discussed the main limitations to public health security in sub-Saharan Africa as follows i) Continuing deterioration of the public health infrastructure for disease control, ii) The changing outlooks of contagious diseases, iii) Private sector reforms like the managed care, iv) Relatively weak health care systems, and v) Poor organizational structures. Conclusion: Most Africans are eager to see the desired transformation in our public health systems. Unfortunately, the political will to invest in public health infrastructure is lacking. Also, the system is characterized by human resources shortage and diverted resources, which significantly impacted the provision for emerging COVID-19 pandemic –related care. Interestingly the monumental breakthroughs in research development for bio-therapeutics and vaccines in African countries appear a mirage even with extensive past study experience with such products from China and the Western world. Finally, notwithstanding these challenges in our public health systems as elaborated, the facts are that enormous capacities exist that can be harnessed in African countries for the COVID-19 preparedness and response.

Maternal health services in China’s western rural areas: uptake and correlates

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengfang Liu ◽  
Linxiu Zhang ◽  
Yaojiang Shi ◽  
Huan ZHOU ◽  
Alexis Medina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Uptake Rate ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Maternal Health Services ◽  
Western China ◽  
Public Health Systems

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.

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.

scholarly journals Integrating oral health with public health systems under the framework of the Global Charter for the Public's Health

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