Global Fund Targets $15 Billion to Effectively Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria BRUSSELS – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced a goal of raising US$15 billion so that it can effectively support countries in fighting these three infectious diseases in the 2014-2016 period. The Global Fund is determined to accelerate the [...]
In November 2012, the Philippines Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) issued a press release about its “crucial” collaboration with the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) to develop a national health data dictionary. According to Dr. Alvin B. Marcelo, PhilHealth Chief Information and Technology Executive, “without a data dictionary, confusion and misinterpretations are common.” With the openHDD, PhilHealth can create new strategies “to improve universal health coverage.” PhilHealth’s adoption of openHDD is an international partnership embraced at the highest level of the PhilHealth Corporation.read more
The case for electronic medical records is compelling: They can make health care more efficient and less expensive, and improve the quality of care by making patients’ medical history easily accessible to all who treat them. via The Ups and Downs of Electronic Medical Records – The Digital Doctor – NYTimes.com.
Read the articles In the editorials of this special theme issue on e-health, Najeeb Al-Shorbaji & Antoine Geissbuhler (322) discuss how to establish an evidence base for e-health, while JEWC van Gemert-Pijnen et al. (323) look at ways to improve the credibility of e-health technologies. In the news section, Claire Keeton (326–327) examines ways of measuring [...]
According to the OpenMRS blog, this new version of OpenMRS has many new features including: Problem lists and allergy lists New user interface for location hierarchy and tagging A few new built-in theme options Improved handling of Concept Tags Support for Spring Framework 3.0 Ability to migrate boolean concepts to coded concepts behind the scenes A daemon user [...]
Bill Gate’s keynote at the mHealth summit 2010 where he discusses potential roles for mHealth in the developing world including importance of vaccine monitoring.
By Glen McCallum – OpenMRS interview with Joaquin Blaya. How did this recent PhD graduate living in Boston end up founding a tech startup in Chile? When I heard Joaquin Blaya is establishing a company around OpenMRS I had a ton of questions. He’s answered them here for all of us. See original post at: [...]
Nine southern African countries and donors have gathered in Namibia for the second regional leadership in Health Information Systems (HIS) meeting to discuss “how recipient countries should take ownership of these systems,” New Era reports (Sasman, 10/26). Participant countries “will work together to develop country specific strategies to strengthen their national HIS and prepare a country-led action plan,” writes the Southern Times. More than 100 delegates representing Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are expected to attend from ministries of finance, health, science, information and statistics bureaus (Nashuuta, 10/22).
Date : Friday October 29th, 2010 Venue : National Geographic, Washington DC Moderator : Benjamin Shaw Speakers : Saleem H. Ali, Ken Banks, Jerry Glover, Kakenya Ntalya “Meet four gifted individuals recognized by National Geographic for making a difference early in their careers. This season’s Emerging Explorers Salon, moderated by Benjamin Shaw , executive producer for the weekly radio talk show National Geographic Weekend , features transformative ideas that are influencing the world. Scientist Saleem H
“After all is said and done, a lot more will be said than done” – Unknown author Twitter has been abuzz lately with fascinating snippets of advice on how to succeed, how not to fail, what makes a good social venture, what makes a good mobile project or how to be a successful social entrepreneur. Of course, it’s easy to say these things, and even easier to repeat mantras and slogans which fit a popular or emerging philosophy. Who could argue, for example, that “users should be put first”? Sadly, when all is said and done, the reality is that it’s still much easier to ignore the advice and go do your own thing your own way, rather than doing things the right way.
Date : Monday 20th September, 2010 Venue : London School of Economics Speakers : Dr Jenny Aker, Ken Banks, Dawn Haig-Thomas Chair : Diane Coyle IGC Growth Week 2010 Public Discussion “Mobile phones have the potential to contribute significantly to economic growth in the developing world, in both the private and public sector. From improving market information for fish traders in Lake Victoria, to enabling medical outreach services in rural South Asia, the mobile is a versatile and adaptable tool. What impact can mobiles have on those previously excluded from financial services and communications networks? Which policies will help turn the promise of mobiles into real benefits for the poorest people
Few companies innovate with the intensity and frequency of those working in mobile, and today’s present is a future that only a handful of people would have predicted just a few short years ago. While most of us happily soak up rampant innovation as mere consumers, a handful of people in the hallowed corridors of mobile R&D labs are already working on the next big thing – the phones we’ll be carrying around in our back pockets in 2012 and beyond. Very occasionally we get a glimpse of this future. A couple of years or so ago, Nokia went public with their “morph concept” phone – an idea which seems so crazy and off-the-wall it might actually be possible.
I’ve always maintained that the greater the distance between an ICT4D ‘problem’ and the problem solver, the greater the chance of failure. The difficulty here is that quite often the problem and the resources available to fix it are in different places, and available to the wrong people. While ‘we’ – those who rarely fully understand the problem – have easier access to the technology and funding, those who do more fully understand it don’t.
“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea” – Hindu Siddharta , Founder of Buddhism (563-483 B.C) Like most people I’ve never been short of ideas. Short of good ones, perhaps, but never plain old ideas. As we all know, though, ideas alone are never enough.