Development and evaluation of an interoperable system based on the semantic web to enhance the management of patients’ tuberculosis data

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB), despite all the efforts and progress made in the last decade, continues to be very relevant in Brazil as well as in other Portuguese-speaking countries, so there is the need to join efforts for increasing the effectiveness of the fight against TB. Therefore, the epidemiological surveillance system of TB requires, not only the implementation of basic prevention and care actions, but also the strengthening of the integration between the different health services, programs and levels of care, whose resolvability varies according to financial, technical and human resources, as well as service infrastructure that comprise the network of attention. The deepening and broadening of data management techniques must constantly be carried out to achieve, at a higher level, integration and integrity of the ideal and desirable health care. Then, the goal of this article is to describe the research methods used to develop an information system using systems interoperability techniques based on the Semantic Web paradigm that will contribute to the activities of epidemiological surveillance and the follow-up of TB patients.