Welcom to the EMPHIS "Databases"

1. Context

Health systems of Mediterranean countries have been structured in quite an efficient way and surveillance and reporting of infectious diseases have been established as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). However, data collection and communication are too often based on traditional methods (paper based) suffering from slow circulation, unidirectional diffusion and poor interaction.

Organised electronic communication within and between the different levels and sectors of the national health systems would improve data transmission and decision processes. In particular, the control of the three selected diseases in Emphis ( Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis ZCL , Nosocomial Infections NI, Tuberculosis TB) suffer from similar communication drawbacks and will largely benefit from the use of Information and Comunication Technology (ICT) tools improving the information flow between care providers, field practitioners, experts, programme managers, decision makers and other stakeholders.

2. Justification

• ZCL is a vector borne disease highly conditioned by environmental factors

• NI are the most prevalent adverse events resulting from health care

• TB remains a major public health threat in the Mediterranean region

3. Proposal

In this area the objectives and the methodology of each database will be presented.

One of the aims is to show you updated results provided by these infomation systems (graphs, risk maps, comparative tables, etc.).

In certain cases, methodological tools will also be proposed for your own utilisation.

4. Link to Emphis databases

Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Database

Nosocomial Infections Database

Tuberculosis Database