Information as a Primary Health Care intervention: The impact of new technology on improving health for all
Abstract
Information Technology for Development Volume 4 Number 4 . © 1989 Oxford University Press. Information as a Primary Health Care Intervention: The Impact of New Technology on Improving Health for All William E. Bertrand Tulane University and University of Kinshasa Schools of Public Health The rationale for turning to the importance of management information systems (MIS) and the relatively high technology of microcomputers in primary health care is based upon two complementary arguments. The first is the simple statement that relatively small amounts of human and fiscal resources are dedicated towards public health and improving quality-of-life issues. Furthermore, there is every indication that the per capita resources available for these activities are declining on an international level, particularly in developing countries. It is a truism to say that much more needs to be done to improve individual health status in order to reach the laudable goal of health for all by the year 2000. _ Improviag the efficiency of the management of available resources is one way of effectively adding to their relative impact. Strongly related and supportive of this idea is the following statement made in a 1987 World Health Organization Report: 'The main constraint reported by practically