An Electronic Public Health Information System for Sri Lanka: a proposal to enhance current practice

Public health depends on timely collected, complete and accurate data. To achieve the public health goal of “collective action for sustained population-wide health improvement”, the ability to measure and monitor health indices of communities and populations is very important. The Sri Lankan public health system has been exemplary among developing countries and the system is well established. Yet the growing population, increased awareness and new health needs of the community have placed a great burden on the current public health system. Re-engineering of the current information system with incorporation of an Electronic Information System can be a solution for the difficulties faced by public the health staff.In this paper, I propose to present a conceptual framework and design for an Electronic Public Health Information System. The design was made by studying the current paper based system and other practical aspects of the system. Information was gathered from field staff, middle level managers and central administrative staff. The proposed system is designed to represent all aspects of the Sri Lankan Public Health System with the ability for integration with other systems.