In addition to supporting the SSI-Ministry of Health (MOH) research studies on influenza and dengue in 2009, the ICT team continued to work on new projects in the eHealth Solutions Laboratory in Managua, Nicaragua. Efforts focused on several promising informatics tools to help meet challenging health information management needs in limited-resource settings. Using the open source web-based electronic medical record system OpenMRS, and with support from the global OpenMRS community, we are focusing on building the first immunization record and prenatal health tracking modules for use in primary care settings. Our goal is to use OpenMRS to eventually include infectious and chronic disease tracking modules and to more easily integrate with existing hospital, pharmacy and laboratory information management systems.

We are also trying out several cell phone-based mobile health (mHealth) data collection systems based on the open source OpenROSA platform to facilitate seamless pregnancy patient tracking and vaccine tracking between field teams and the clinic databases. These tools allow for real-time data integration at the point of care, improving the quality and speed of data recording. Decision-support tools are also being implemented and evaluated by our ICT team with MOH partners to determine their impact in improving the use of health information for preventive care.

In a continuing collaboration between SSI, the National Reference and Diagnostic Laboratory of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health, the computer science department of the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, and technical advisors from the international open source software community, we are near completion of a laboratory information management system that includes sample reception, management, processing and reporting tools that will provide a single web-based database platform with the ability to be linked to patient medical records and the National Epidemiology and Surveillance reporting system.

Beyond our hands-on work with various eHealth tools in the Managua Solutions Laboratory, ICT for Health Program Coordinator, Heather Zornetzer, and Director of Informatics, William Avilés, have continued to actively engage in the eHealth community in the Americas as well as in Africa and Asia to strengthen networks of South-South connections. In an exciting development, SSI co-coordinated the 1st Latin American Open Source Health Informatics Meeting (IMeCA 2009) in Lima, Perú, on October 26-31 (see ‘Capacity-Building Program Supports Scientists in Latin America’). The goals of the 1st IMeCA meeting were to create a collaborative community in the region to focus on investing in efficient, accessible, and cost-effective information and communication technologies to streamline health service delivery, improve health system efficiency, improve health outcomes and prevent diseases in limited-resource settings.

Based on a very successful first gathering of participants from 11 Latin American countries, IMeCA will continue to be guided by SSI’s ICT team and collaborators at Partners in Health (Boston) into 2010, when the 2nd meeting and associated workshops will be held in Central America to focus on mHealth informatics tools. We expect the ICT for Health Program at SSI to continue to engage and support the international open source health informatics community over the next year. We are thrilled to be involved in this exciting area at such a critical time in the global conversation about the value of eHealth solutions.