Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Health Information System for Venganoor panchayat soon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Venganoor panchayat bordering the capital city will soon be equipped with a technological tool that will help local public health administrators and policy makers forecast epidemics, monitor diseases and plan targeted intervention.

The Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) and the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies have developed a Health Information System for disease surveillance and management in the panchayat.

The system will provide access to surveillance data for better management and control of epidemics. Built on a GIS (Geographic Information System) platform, it has been designed as a powerful tool to analyse the risk and spread of infectious diseases and map case distributions and variability of disease agents in specific locations. It will also assist the implementation of targeted micro-level public health programmes.

“Health Information System (HIS) is essentially a software for managing information in structured manner for health management at the household level. By analysing trends and patterns of diseases, it would help in the identification of risk factors and better utilisation of the health infrastructure,” says Dr. M.Samsuddin of the CESS, one of the scientists who on the mission team.

The project, he said, has great potential in epidemiological research, communicable disease control and optimisation of health services. Under the pilot project, trained women volunteers were deployed all over the panchayat for a household survey to collect spatial and socio economic data and disease parameters. Elected representatives, health workers and other health staff were drafted into the project.

The prototype of the HIS has been successfully tested in the Geomatics lab at the CESS. It is expected to be launched shortly in the Venganoor panchayat.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Boeing’s maintenance base to come up
Sports performance analysis lab inaugurated
Administrative maps of local bodies released
Bird flu: State takes preventive steps
Moving farewell to Gopi
KSRTC to buy 1,000 buses a year
Bond repayment
HMT land deal: BJP demands probe
Kodiyeri to open flower show
Garib Rath for Kerala from February
Lookout notice against wanted man being prepared
VS to open ISBA meet today
Health Information System for Venganoor panchayat soon
Office-bearers
Pre-epidemic preparedness activities launched in district

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu