Health informatics

• While Canada had lower numbers of cases and deaths and higher vaccination rates than most other G10 countries, these successes mask inequities across communities, socio-economic conditions and demography.
• Now is the time to learn from the COVID-19 response through an action-oriented, independent inquiry focused on implementation and accountability.

Loss of public trust

• The Public Health Agency of Canada, which was created in the wake of the first SARS outbreak in 2003, develops national clinical and public health guidelines while provincial and territorial health agencies make decisions for their individual jurisdictions.
• Over time, this led to a loss of confidence in public health guidance.

Fragmented data

• Health information systems lack integration and interoperability between data sources, even after $130 million of investment over the past eight years.
• Canada’s health data privacy and protection laws, developed before the era of big data applications, create legal impediments to using and analyzing data across jurisdictions.
• Data need never leave their secure data environments; instead, de-identified data may be accessed and analyzed across independent systems using federated data structures.
• Improved data access also presumes that data are fit for purpose, and that was not the case.

Health inequities

• Health data that include not only locale, but also racial identity, occupations, household size and income can help unpack social determinants of infection and health outcomes, and can be used to tailor public health programs.
• Public health decisions involve health, social and economic tradeoffs that need to be informed not only by standard epidemiological data, but also by social science data.
• These data can illuminate the social determinants of health, the spread of misinformation and disinformation and political factors, such as the rise in social unrest due to public health measures.

Public inquiry and reforms

• It is clear that some public trust in public health, science and government has been lost in Canada and around the world.
• We need political will to call an independent inquiry that is inclusive of a diversity of voices, accountable to communities and with a mandate to implement change.
• Reforms to data generation, access and use are essential in preparing for the next public health emergency.

• RestorixHealth, the nation’s leading wound care solutions company, has announced that Dr. William H. Tettelbach, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FUHM, MAPWCA, CWSP has been named Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
• He comes to RestorixHealth from HCA Healthcare, where he served as the Executive Medical Director, Wound & Hyperbaric Medicine Services for the Mountain Division.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230713335918/en/
  Dr. William H. Tettelbach, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FUHM, MAPWCA, CWSP has been named Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of RestorixHealth.
• Dr. Tettelbach lends his expertise to numerous professional societies, committees and associations and has co-authored numerous research articles and book chapters.

• These events have enormous health and social effects, among them death, injuries, malnutrition and diseases (infectious and non-communicable).
• How, then, can African countries build more resilient primary healthcare systems as the effects of climate change worsen?
• The review mapped the available evidence onto the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) health system building blocks: leadership and governance; the health workforce; the health information system; infrastructure and technology; service delivery; and health financing.
• We identified five key questions that health systems must answer to build more resilient primary healthcare.

1. What training do medical professionals need?

• Health professionals in most African countries receive barely any training related to the health and social effects of dramatic changes in weather patterns.
• The World Organisation of Family Doctors has also launched a global online training programme on planetary health.
• But training new health professionals isn’t enough.

2. What are the community’s key vulnerabilities?

• This kind of primary care has become policy in some health systems, for instance in South Africa’s Western Cape province.
• The community-orientated approach has usually focused on addressing the social determinants of ill health such as early childhood development or education.
• Now, environmental determinants of health and key climate-related vulnerabilities must also be considered.

3. How can the health system track environmental changes?

• Health information systems traditionally collect data on health services and a population’s health needs.
• Primary health care facilities and services need to identify the particular climatic events that they are likely to face.
• Our scoping review did not find any African examples of health information systems tracking the changes or providing early warning of climate-related events.

4. How can health systems build climate resilience?

• For example, a hybrid energy system may improve resilience and mitigate the health system’s carbon footprint.
• Health systems need to consider how they can design facilities and systems to withstand environmental challenges, respond to emergencies and continue offering essential services.

5. What are the next steps?

• The scoping review reveals a widespread absence of evidence on how to address the issue of climate change in African primary healthcare.
• He is the President of the SA Academy of Family Physicians and coordinates the Primary Care and Family Medicine (PRIMAFAMED) network in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• ATLANTA, June 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KMS Healthcare , a leading custom software development and services company, has appointed Kevin Shields to Chief Revenue Officer.
• His extensive experience designing and executing effective go-to-market strategies in the complex HIT space makes him the perfect fit for KMS Healthcare,” said Mikael Ohman, CEO of KMS Healthcare.
• Prior to joining KMS Healthcare, Shields led the commercial organizations for various divisions within McKesson, Change Healthcare and Syntellis.
• It’s exciting to now be working with KMS Healthcare as we help healthcare technologists leverage the more recent generative AI capabilities.”