Developing capacity in health informatics in a resource poor setting: lessons from Peru

Ann Marie Kimball,Patricia J Garcia,Yuzo Arima,Jesus M Castagnetto,Jose Segovia-Juarez,Sherrilynne Fuller,Fabiola Leon-Velarde,King K Holmes,Walter H Curioso

doi:10.1186/1478-4491-7-80

Abstract

The public sectors of developing countries require strengthened capacity in health informatics. In Peru, where formal university graduate degrees in biomedical and health informatics were lacking until recently, the AMAUTA Global Informatics Research and Training Program has provided research and training for health professionals in the region since 1999. The Fogarty International Center supports the program as a collaborative partnership between Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru and the University of Washington in the United States of America. The program aims to train core professionals in health informatics and to strengthen the health information resource capabilities and accessibility in Peru. The program has achieved considerable success in the development and institutionalization of informatics research and training programs in Peru. Projects supported by this program are leading to the development of sustainable training opportunities for informatics and eight of ten Peruvian fellows trained at the University of Washington are now developing informatics programs and an information infrastructure in Peru. In 2007, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia started offering the first graduate diploma program in biomedical informatics in Peru.

Highlights

Technology serves public health, and an important mission for public health schools today is to advance knowledge and provide training in 'appropriate technologies' for the control of diseases of poverty in developing countries [1]
Biomedical and public health informatics have been taught over the last 20-25 years, with well documented successes and setbacks, providing good models for future course development and training
Informatics represents an important and emerging focus in healthcare settings, applicable, for example, to functional genomics, proteomics, clinical care, prevention, disease surveillance, and disease burden assessment, which are among the appropriate technological 'core competencies' for medical and public health research [1]

Summary

Introduction

Technology serves public health, and an important mission for public health schools today is to advance knowledge and provide training in 'appropriate technologies' for the control of diseases of poverty in developing countries [1]. Informatics represents an important and emerging focus in healthcare settings, applicable, for example, to functional genomics, proteomics, clinical care, prevention, disease surveillance, and disease burden assessment, which are among the appropriate technological 'core competencies' for medical and public health research [1]. In developing countries, the need for training and retention of health professionals in informatics remains one of the greatest public health challenges. With the growing use of the internet to gain access to vital health information and for research [9], informatics training and computer competency are essential for all health professionals

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