Country Programs & Partnerships

Through various informatics projects, the Global Public Informatics Program (GPHIP) has established strong relationships and partnerships with other U.S. agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense and ministries of health in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Eastern Europe, and South and Central Asia regions.

Project Highlights

Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance Systems

First day of Epidemiology Module 6 Veterinary training in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

GPHIP partners with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to develop and deploy an Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance Systems (EIDSS) in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Armenia. In alignment with DTRA’s Threat Agent Detection and Response (TADR) Program, this project promotes biosecurity and biosafety at biological facilities and focuses on disease surveillance and investigations of suspicious outbreaks of disease.

EIDSS is an electronic disease surveillance system that links the different levels of a national disease surveillance network within a country in near real-time. This quick dissemination of information to public health authorities increases the country’s capacity for monitoring and responding to potential threats of dangerous pathogen and zoonotic disease outbreaks.

EIDSS integrates human and animal disease data, demographic information, geographical information, disease-specific clinical signs and symptoms (based on standardized case definitions), laboratory analysis, sample tracking, epidemiological analysis, and response measures into a cohesive information set that is continuously synchronized among all EIDSS sites.

Saudi Arabia Field Epidemiology Training Program staff and health workers enter data into Smartphones during a hands-on training session.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

GPHIP has been working with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) since 2009. Tremendous advances have been made in strengthening health systems, building public health capacity in disease surveillance and response, and strengthening linkages between the public health, medical, and scientific communities in areas of mutual concern to CDC and KSA. The following are highlights of select projects.

• Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health

  

  Muslim pilgrims walking around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque in Mecca during the 2010 Hajj pilgrimage rituals.

  GPHIP has worked with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MoH) to strengthen its surveillance for mass gatherings (i.e., Umrah Ramadan, Hajj). GPHIP designed, developed, and deployed the Mobile-based Notifiable Electronic Disease Surveillance System (MNDSS), state-of-the-art technology that collects and processes infectious disease data using smartphones. As a result, disease data were analyzed and interpreted onsite to create instant daily reports which allowed MoH officials to respond promptly to early signs of possible outbreaks. More than 300 healthcare professionals have been trained to use the system for the Hajj.

• Saudi Arabia National Guard Health Authority

  The Saudi Arabia National Guard Health Authority (SANG-HA) project embraces a multi-year plan that includes establishing interoperability with existing clinical and laboratory systems and the public health infrastructure for informed decision making. As the first integrated electronic surveillance system in this region, the CDC/NGHA Integrated Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NG-IEDSS) pulls together data from three major disease reporting systems: Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI), notifiable diseases, and environmental and occupational disorders.

China CDC Public Health Informatics Collaborations

China public health professionals practice mobile-based data collection tool at the training class during 2008 Sichuan earthquake response.

GPHIP began collaborating with China CDC in 2008 to develop and deploy a state-of-the -art mobile-based data collection toolkit that enhanced China CDC’s Sichuan Earthquake public health relief efforts. Handheld mobile devices were used to collect data in near real-time in affected areas of the Sichuan province. Using this data, public health officials were able to monitor and effectively respond to areas of need. Since then, GPHIP and China CDC have developed a strong partnership in several areas of public health informatics including:

• Strengthening capabilities for the detection, reporting, exchange, and management of health information, including informatics capabilities assessments, informatics science exchange, and application of informatics standards;
• Strengthening public health informatics capabilities for response to public health emergencies and epidemics including developing, deploying, and evaluating the use of emergency health information systems; and
• Building informatics capacity through informatics workshops and short- and long- term training courses

Areas of Focus

Applications and Services:

• Information systems analysis, design, development, and implementation
  • Integrated public health surveillance
  • International Healthcare Safety Network
  • Mobile-based Disease Surveillance System
  • Electronic health records
  • Mass gathering surveillance and response
  • Mobile-based data collection toolkit
  • Global Health Information Exchange
  • International Health Regulations capacity monitoring tool
  • Epidemiological Analysis, Visualization, and Reporting tools
  • WHO Collaborating Center for Public Health Informatics
• Informatics standards development, enhancement, implementation, and overall support
  • Public Health Task Force
  • Support Interoperability through Enterprise Architecture
• Training and capacity development
  • Analysis Visualization and Reporting (AVR) training
  • General informatics training
  • Access the Public Health Information Network (PHIN)
• Research - Support global health informatics science through:
  • Research
  • Analysis
  • Development
  • Implementation
• Policy
  • Provide support to global strategies, architecture, and standards for global interoperability and exchange of health information systems and tools
  • Contribute to the development of an informatics agenda for global health
• Evaluation - Develop framework for national public health surveillance informatics evaluation
• WHO Collaborating Center for Public Health Informatics
  • Support WHO’s mission and goals by hosting a WHO Collaborating Center for Public Health Informatics
  • Provide informatics evaluation for health information systems
  • Conduct information needs assessment for health systems
  • Conduct business process analysis and redesign