National health information system need of the hour
The pandemic has shed light on the need for having national health information systems, said speakers at the United Nations World Data Forum 2021 conference yesterday.
They were talking at a session titled "Data-driven Vaccination Strategy for a Covid-19 Free World" at the conference held in Bern, Switzerland.
"Such a system is not only needed for the pandemic but in general as well," said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, adding that the system already in place needs to be fully utilised.
He said that new concerns, such as privacy and data security, must be taken into account too.
Agnes Binagwaho, vice-chancellor of University of Global Health Equity from Rwanda, said, "This is not by chance that we have successfully implemented the Covid-19 vaccine in Rwanda."
Rwandan authorities had district-wise data, and a list of those who needed to be vaccinated, like caregivers, community workers and people with underlying conditions, she said.
Anir Chowdhury, policy advisor of the ICT Division's a2i Programme, spoke about how data collected on patients during the pandemic is now being used.
"We had established a dedicated telehealth service for the Covid patients," he said, adding that they are now going back and finding out the rate of reinfection. "Covid-19 has taught us that we have to distinguish between statistics and data. All institutions must collect data."
Natalia Aquilino, a director of CIPPEC, a foundation in Argentina, emphasised the need to share and create a global pool of data.
Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, who leads the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, said they are now using data to continue post-vaccination surveillance, since an amalgamation of several different kinds of vaccines had to be administered in Bangladesh.
Comments