HomeThe RegionRegional PortraitsAbout ScanBaltCalendarProjectsOpinionsMembers Esita HealthPort co-organizes a “Care for the World” mini-symposium at MEDINFO2013 in Copenhagen
The EU Project BSHR HealthPort co-organizes a mini-symposium “Care for the World” at MEDINFO 2013, 20-23 August, Copenhagen, Denmark. MedInfo is considered one of the most important global events in the world of Medical and Health Informatics and is the flagship of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). The symposium addresses the question of how to foster innovative approaches of health care delivery and how to exchange best practice and successful models between a Global South and a Global North setting. While the Global South still struggles to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the health systems of the Global North are under pressure due to an aging population and life style related diseases. In 2000 the Millennium Development Goals have been formulated with the major goal of freeing people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations. Three of the goals are linked to health, namely reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Three years before the deadline at the end of 2015 the world has met some important targets while others remain to be seen.
In the mini-symposium two different but related methodologies will be presented that are regarded by the authors as the most powerful principles to provide high-quality, efficient and effective health care in a global context. These two methodologies are the use of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) and Open & User Driven Innovation. The mini-symposium provides real world best practice examples of these methodologies. The chosen best practice examples represent a Global South and a Global North perspective and context and will highlight the potential of combining these approaches and are intended to induce a process of mutual learning and exchange of experience among Global South/Global North as well as different communities and different parts of the world. The mini-symposium is structured in three parts: The first part covers FLOSS approaches and will start by a keynote on the role of FLOSS in achieving the MDGs. The Free Hospital Information System GNU Health will be presented as a best practice example developed for and with users from low resource settings. A short introduction to MedFLOSS.org, a portal for FLOSS in health care software supported by IMIA OS WG and EFMI LIFOSS WG will conclude the first part. The second part will provide insights into a novel methodology developed at the “Ideas Clinic” at the Aalborg University Hospital focusing on open innovation/user-driven innovation approach to accelerate the development of innovative solutions for health care provision. The symposium is co-organized by the IMIA Open Source Working Group, the International Institute of Global Health of the United Nations University, the EU Project HealthPort and the Non-governmental organization GNU Health.
