Health Cards (33)
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I too was impressed by Jaap's remarks though I would not completely
discount facility based family records. What I have seen in Indonesia
impressed me because the records were well kept and were used both for
individual care and for record review to improve quality.
I was interested in the mention of Arthur Heywood. Together with Bruce
Campbell and Sam Adjei they have produced a very useful booklet called
'From data to decision making in health. The evolution of a health
management information system'. It is published by the Royal Tropical
Institute in the Netherlands, Mauritskade 63, 1092 AD Amsterdam. There are
also computer diskettes available of the data summary sheets. I have not
reviewed these but I like the idea.
The book is available in the US from Eiron Inc POB 40072 Washington DC
20016 at the rather excessive price of $32.00 for a book of about 100
pages. So for most people getting the book from KIT is the best option.
What I like about the book is how clearly it is based on real field
experience in Ghana, the limited list of indicators selected all of which
are useful and reasonably easy to collect. I am concerned that their list
of out-patient diseases that are subject to monthly collection and
surveillance is too long. 50 conditions is at least 20 too many. There are
some diseases which should be notified immediately such as yellow fever,
acute poliomyelitis, diphtheria and cholera. Other diseases such as TB and
leprosy and possibly some other chronic conditions should be managed using
a register system. The inpatient admission list of 27 conditions was well
considered I thought.
The reference list in the book is also very useful.
Richard Laing
Department of International Health
School of Public Health
Boston University
53 Bay State Rd,
Boston
MA 02215 USA
Tel +1-617-353-6630
Fax +1-617-353-6330
mailto:richardl@bu.edu
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