Speaking virtually at the 59th meeting of the Executive Council of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Ileana Morales, director of Science and Technological Innovation at the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), confirmed that the former strengthens the leadership and management of the process in that area.
Morales stated that the immediate processing and use of continuous and truthful data allows making more timely decisions, evident during more than a year of fighting the pandemic with the application of digital tools for epidemiological management, the MINSAP’s website reported.
In Cuba’s case, she explained that we have a strategy for the development of information and knowledge systems in health, based on the training of specialized human resources graduated from university and technological careers.
In recent years, progress has been made in medical robotics, precision medicine, nanoscience and neuroscience programs, among others, which require the processing and assimilation of large volumes of data, she added.
For his part, Karel Barthelemy, director of Information Technology and Communications at the MINSAP, noted that the digital transformation of the health sector poses a great challenge and requires a design adapted to the characteristics of each country.
Barthelemy mentioned computer solutions currently used in research, monitoring of laboratory results, availability of hospital beds, as well as the management of information from clinical laboratories and control of the vaccinated population.
The use of Big Data tools and mathematical models to predict the behavior of the virus in the population is another of the tools applied, which allows adjusting the national coping plan and patient care protocols.
In his opinion, in order to implement the roadmap for the digital transformation of the health sector in the Americas, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between countries and PAHO, a fact that will generate an exchange of knowledge on the subject and make progress together to create a shared platform.
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