Middle-East Countries Share Health Data

A new system will allow public health officials in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority to share and exchange health data, to protect patient privacy, and to monitor and react to potential disease outbreaks across geographic and political boundaries. The system currently focuses on common food-borne diseases, such as Salmonella, Shigella, and Helicobacter, which are regional problems. Avian flu will be added to the system later.

The technology used for this system standardizes the method of sharing health information and automates the task of analyzing for outbreaks. The IBM Haifa Research Lab (Haifa, Israel) and IBM's (Armonk, NY, USA) Almaden Research Center (San Jose, CA, USA) created the secure, web-based portal system, called Public Health Information Affinity Domain (PHIAD), in collaboration with the global organization Nuclear Threat Initiative's Global Health and Security Initiative (GHSI), and the regional organization Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS).

MECIDS, whose members include Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority, will be an early adopter of the technology. Currently members of MEDICS exchange information mostly on paper. By moving to a standards-based model of secure electronic information exchange, members will be able to share and exchange key data to monitor and respond to potential outbreaks.

PHIAD has already been deployed in Israel and is in place with the Palestinian Authority. Shipping has been ordered for Jordan and it [is] ready for them to use, explained Boaz Carmeli, spokesperson for the IBM Haifa Research Lab. Technically, there [is] no problem for other countries to be included.


Related Links:
The IBM Haifa Research Lab
IBM Almaden Research Center
IBM