B - Opening up public health: a strategy of information and

Reidpath D, Allotey P. Opening up public health: a strategy of information and
communication technology to support population health. Lancet 2009 (243) 21: 1050-51

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60315-9

Information saves lives because it is fundamental to public health practice. But, today, the volume and complexity of knowledge and information have outstripped the capacity of health systems to function at their best without the support of information management systems. Therefore, electronic information and communication technology (ICT) has become indispensable to cope with the overload of infornmation. The author supports the cautious use of free and open source software to manage the bulk of information ans save precious money with particular regard to resource poor settings.

Thanks to Daniela Marsili

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