Category Archives: Public Health

GNU Health training in Franceville – Gabon –

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

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Mr. Armand Mpassy-Nzoumba, GNU Solidario representative in Africa, provided a GNU Health Training at the Centre of Medical Research of Franceville (Gabon).

These are some words from Mr. Armand Mpassy-Nzoumba about this great project:

” During the Training of GNU Health we implemented the lab modules of GNU Health. It was done in replacement of of similar software which did no longer met user requirements. The lab team, of about 15 members, was trained. After implementation we noticed a number of improvements including:

  • Improved quality of medical lab analyses
  • improved process time. It took 3 to 5 days to deliver results. Now results can be delivers the same day
  • A full patient database.
  • Improved reliability of the software. The previous one did have a number of bigs and required a lot of maintenance
  • Improved return on investment thanks to free and open source software … “

GNU Health in Laos

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

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It was a great experience to see the advances in the GNU Health implementation at the Center of Medical Rehabilitation (CMR) in Laos. 
It’s always such a pleasure and honor to see how GNU Health can make a change and help public health. Our appreciation to the Director of the Center, Khamphet Manivong, along with Bounmy Sihaphom, Sisouvanh Sangbouaboulom and Anousak Souphavanh, IT consultants from Calat.

Ministerio de Salud de Jamaica adopta GNU Health

26 Thursday Sep 2013

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“If yu waa good, yu nose affi run”
Presentación de bienvenida para la misión 
de GNU Solidario por parte del Ministerio de Salud


“El éxito requiere trabajo arduo” reza este proverbio jamaiquino. Con un refulgente sol caribeño y un grupo de bienvenida aún más radiante, esta semana GNU Health desembarcó en una nueva bahía. En cooperación con el Ministerio de Salud, una misión grupal de GNU Solidario visitó Jamaica e inauguró oficialmente el proyecto de implementación de GNU Health dentro de su sistema de salud pública.

Dicha misión se enmarca dentro de un acuerdo social entre el Ministerio de Salud de Jamaica y GNU Solidario, convenio dispuesto específicamente para desplegar este software libre de salud e información hospitalaria en la isla.

Este paso marca un punto de inflexión en la historia del campo de la salud, por cuanto Jamaica es el primer país en adoptar GNU Health con proyecciones nacionales. Una tarea herculeana, esta implementación demanda una integración intersectorial de parte de todas las regiones del país. De ahí que no sólo la Secretaria Permanente del Ministerio de Salud, la Dra. Jean Dixon, brindara su aval para con el proyecto, sino que el Sr. Gary Campbell (Director, TIC; Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología, Energía y Minería) también hizo extensiva su bendición al momento que anunciaba un proyecto gubernamental de migración al software libre (GOJ FOSS Migration project, en inglés) y cómo se articularían ambos emprendimientos.
Programadores, administradores de sistemas, médicos, personal de enfermería y de registros de salud, así como otros funcionarios públicos se reunieron para participar de diversas reuniones, talleres y grupos focales. El propio departamento de informática y salud del Ministerio de Salud estuvo presente a través de miembros tanto a nivel nacional como regional, así como mediante representantes de registros de salud, clínico, técnico y administración de personal.
Luego de una intensa semana, se lograron definir las directrices iniciales para el proyecto, con el fin de completar la primera etapa para fines del presente año. Más aún, nuestro equipo de GNU Solidario visitó el centro de salud Slipe Pen Road para realizar mediciones y cálculos incipientes y poder extrapolarlas.

El camino hacia el despliegue nacional ha iniciado y, tanto el equipo local en el Ministerio de Salud como GNU Solidario se muestran optimsitas y decididos a completar la hoja de ruta y las expectativas trazadas. Esta iniciativa ha generado una gratificación que trasciende la jurisdicción local, en tanto no sólo la comunidad del Software Libre, sino que el mundo entero se regocija frente a este hito en la atención primaria de salud.
Taller con el equipo de informática del Ministerio de Salud
Edificio del Ministerio de Salud (Kingston)
Tal como establece el portal de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) sobre Atención Primaria de la Salud, “el objetivo supremo de la atención primaria de la salud es mejor salud para todos”. La OMS ha identificado cinco elementos claves para la consecución de este objetivo [1]:
  • reducir la exclusión y disparidades sociales en la salud
  • organizar servicios de salud en función de las necesidades y expectativas de las personas
  • intregrar la salud en todos los sectores
  • privilegiar modelos colaborativos de políticas de diálogo
  • incrementar la participación de diversos sectores
Ése es el objetivo de GNU Health: Universalidad en el cuidado de la salud. ¡eHealth para todos!


[1] The World Health Organization (WHO): Primary Health Care
 
  Sobre GNU Health

GNU Health es un sistema libre de salud e información hospitalaria que brinda las siguientes funcionalidades:

  • Sistema de información sobre la salud (Datos demográficos y epidemiológicos)
  • Sistema de información hospitalaria
  • Expediente médico electrónico
*Entre otros reconocimientos internacionales, GNU Health ganó el premio a Mejor Proyecto de Beneficio Social otorgado por la Fundación de Software Libre.

*GNU Health es un paquete oficial de GNU y forma parte de GNU Solidario, una organización sin fines de lucro que desarrolla proyectos de salud con software libre. GNU Solidario, en conjunto con la Universidad de las Naciones Unidas (Instituto Internacional para la Salud Global), firmaron un acuerdo social para implementar GNU Health y capacitar a los profesionales de la salud a nivel internacional.
*GNU Health se presentó ante la OMS y la Unión Internacional de Comunicación (ITU por sus siglas en inglés) durante la sesión “TICs para mejorar la información y la responsabilidad para la salud de las mujeres y los niños” en la Cumbre Mundial de la Sociedad de la Información (Foro WSIS) 2013 en Ginebra.

GNU Health wins FSF Project of Social Benefit

02 Monday Apr 2012

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Just got back to Buenos Aires after a 10 days in the United States and El Salvador, and finally got some time to write about the award, what it means to GNU Solidario and to the community at large.
The FSF’s ceremony took place at the University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMass) on Sunday March 25th, during the LibrePlanet 2012 conference. On the ceremony, there were two awards :
  • Award for the Advancement of Free Software:Yukihiro Matsumoto, creator of the Ruby Programming Language. Congratulations Matz !
  • Award for the Project of Social Benefit : GNU Health
Richard Stallman and Luis Falcon
As stated by the FSF, the Award for Projects of Social Benefit is presented to the project or team responsible for applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life. This award stresses the use of free software in the service of humanity.

GNU Health won award for Project of Social Benefit 2011
I want to thank the committee for choosing GNU Health : Suresh Ramasubramanian, Peter H. Salus, Wietse Venema, Raj Mathur, Hong Feng, Andrew Tridgell, Jonas Oberg, Vernor Vinge, Richard Stallman, Fernanda G. Weiden, Harald Welte, and Rob Savoyes.

Luis Falcon holding the award and the mascot


We take this award with great pride, but also with great responsibility. We share this award with novel previous winners  Wikipedia, Creative Commons, Internet Archives, Groklaw, Tor and Sahana Disaster Management System .

I see Free Software as social activism. GNU Health goal is to improve the lives of the underprivileged by means of Free Software.  We deliver a Free Health and Hospital Information System to health centers all around the world. Because is Free (Freedom), the software belongs to them. They can modify it, improve it, and localize it to their needs ! This is the Free Software philosophy.

GNU Health provides the basis for sustainable and universal medicine, no matter the economical status of the health center or the patient. After all, Health is a non-negotiable human right and never should belong to the greedy corporations. Health is a public good, and so it should be health informatics.

Yukihiro Matsumoto “Matz” and Luis Falcon
I want to thank the Free Software Foundation and his creator, Richard Stallman, for creating the environment for social justice and equity. 
Thank you to the Free Software community : Python, Postgresql, Tryton, GNU/Linux, GnuPG and Wikimedia foundation are just some of the building blocks for GNU Health. Without a free software community, GNU Health wouldn’t exist.
Thank you to the governments adopting Free Software as a Public good.
Thank you to the community, to all of you who contribute your time and talent to improve GNU Health !
Finally, I want to dedicate this award to the men and women who anonymously give their lives to help the underprivileged. You are an example for all of us !
For more information, please check the official announcement at the Free Software Foundation  : 
About GNU Health

GNU Health is a free Health and Hospital Information System that provides the following functionality : 

  •     Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
  •     Hospital Information System (HIS)
  •     Health Information System

GNU Health is an official GNU Package , chosen by Richard Stallman, and is part of GNU Solidario. GNU Solidario is a NGO that delivers education and health to emerging economies with free software.

GNU Health is the Hospital Information System chosen by the United Nations International Institute of Global Health. 

Main site : health.gnu.org

Governments hosting GNU Health through their portals :

    European Commission (EU) , JoinUp

    Brazil: Portal do Software Público Brasileiro (SPB)


GNU Health at Paraguay Ministry of Public Health

26 Saturday Nov 2011

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I just got back from Paraguay, where we were invited by Mr. Nicolás Caballero from the Paraguayan Government to talk about GNU Health at the Social Security Institute (IPS – Instituto de Previsión Social ) and Ministry of Public Health .

It’s great  to see how Paraguay is adopting Free Software in the Public Health System, working as a team, from the Presidency office, the Social Security Institute (IPS) and the Ministry of Public Health (MSPBS).
I noticed how the government conceives Health informatics as a public good, an integral component  of Public Health.   

At Dr. Emilio Cubas Hospital. The largest health center in Paraguay

We spent two non-stop days in Asunción, capital of Paraguay, visiting the different health centers and having meetings with health officials. In those meetings, Nicolas Caballero explained the latest and concrete resolutions that the Paraguayan government is taking on Free Software adoption in public health care. 

Nicolas Caballero and Social Security Institute (IPS) members

Luis Falcón, Nurhizam Safie, Cristina Melgosa, Rosa González and Ana Ayala (director of Informatics)  from IPS

After visiting the different health centers, we had a meeting with the information system team, with whom we discussed the technical details about GNU Health, such as the programming environment, security, scalability and reporting. 
Explaining technical details about GNU Health at the General Hospital
At Clinica Nanawa

Dr. Nurhizam Safie, from the United Nations University, Institute of Global Health explained the partnership with GNU Solidario, and implementation cases of GNU Health in Asia, Africa and Latinamerica.
Nurhizam stressed the commitment of the UNU – the academic branch of the United Nations – with GNU Health and the implementation in the Paraguayan Public Health system, as a way of delivering universality in health care. Today UNU provides training and capacity building in GNU Health implementations.  

Dr. Nurhizam Safie from United Nations University, talking about the UNU commitment to the project
Part of the Informatics department team at Central Hospital led by Rosa González
Ms. Rosa González, Social Security Institute chief of the informatics department, gave us an extensive tour throughout different health institutions and their departments. Among them: Pharmacy, Laboratory, Appointments, Inpatient administration and Imaging.
Rosa explained to her team that GNU Health is licensed under GPL, the GNU General Public License, so they have all the freedom to use and custumize GNU Health to fit their needs. I stressed the importance of working with the community, so the health informatics team can always ask questions in public forums and share with us their developments and bug fixes. GNU Health is the result of many contributions and feedback  from an international community and multi-disciplinary teams.
At the Geriatric Hospital

Dr Nurhizam, Cristina Melgosa and Rosa González at IPS entrance hall

On Friday afternoon we were invited by Dr. Graciela Gamarra, General Director of Strategic Health Information Systems, from the Health Ministry (Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social). They showed us their current epidemiology systems that are being built on Free Software.
We also discussed on integrating all the current systems with GNU Health, and link it to the current epidemiology engine.
Taking a break

I want to thank the government of Paraguay for inviting us and for the hospitality, they made us feel at home.

But most importantly, I want to thank the government of Paraguay for the commitment with Free Software in Public Health. Latin America is today a leader in the adoption of Free Software in public administrations, delivering equity and universality in health care for their habitants.

Last but not least, thanks to Richard Stallman, who referred GNU Health to Nicolás Caballero , chief technology innovation officer of the Presidency office.  Thanks Nicolás for making this possible !

About GNU Health
GNU Health is a free Health and Hospital Information System that provides the following functionality :

  • Electronic Medical Record (EMR)

  • Hospital Information System (HIS)
  • Health Information System


GNU Health is an official GNU Package and is part of GNU Solidario. GNU Solidario is a NGO that delivers education and health to emerging economies with free software.

GNU Health is the Hospital Information System chosen by the United Nations International Institute of Global Health. 

Main site : health.gnu.org

Governments hosting GNU Health through their portals :
  • European Commission (EU) , OSOR

  • Brazil: Portal do Software Público Brasileiro (SPB)

GNU Health at Encuentro Nacional de Tecnología da Informação -ENTI-

30 Sunday Oct 2011

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Brasilia: National Congress

These last two weeks have been very busy !! We went from Latinoware (Foz do Iguaçu) where we organized IWEEE 2011 Brazil: Momentum to the Encuentro Nacional de Tecnología da Informação (ENTI) in Brasilia.

Luis Falcón

The event, organized by Ministério do Planejamiento, Ministerío das Cidades, and Secretaria de Relações Institucionaias, gathered  parallel activities:

Juscelino Kubitschek’s Bridge
  • – II Encontro Nacional de Tecnologia da  Informação para os Municípios 
  • – II Encontro Nacional de Qualidade de Software 
  • – I Encontro de Governança em Tecnologia da Informação 
  • – I Encontro Nacional de Dados Abertos 
  • – Pré-Conferência Nacional de Governo Eletrônico 
GNU Solidario was invited in order to present GNU Health on the 26th. Luis Falcón gave an introductory speech about the ONG, the projects and GNU Health.

Luis Falcón and Cesar Brod
At the presentation participated also Cesar Brod (Coordinator of the Brazilian Public Software Portal, Ministry of Planning, Brazil), who explained how they met and how Luis`s work ,with GNU Solidario, contribuited to the spread of Free Software, Education and Health. 
Presentation of GNU Health and GNU Solidario
The introductory speeches created the perfect atmosphere for a round table that was animated by a strong participation from the public ! There were people from the Argentinian government, from Brazilian Ministry of Health, medical professionals from different hospitals, universities and IT specialists.
The public had many questions
Unfortunately time really flew … There were too many questions and too little time !! As you know, you are more than welcome to get in touch with us and send us your questions, doubts, concerns …
Roberto Sahakian – Jorge Luis Cabezas (Argentinian Government) and C. Melgosa
Our special thanks  to Cesar Brod and Corinto Meffe (Director of Department of Integration Information System, Brazil) for all the help, support, organization and … for the translating !
Luis Falcón and Corinto Meffe
Going to the event !
For more info: health@gnusolidario.org

GNU Health 1.4.1 released !

29 Saturday Oct 2011

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I’m happy to announce the release of GNU Health 1.4.1, in which we have incorporated support for PyPI, the Python Package Index

This version is compatible with the latest tryton release (2.2.0). Now GNU Health is also a set of python modules, fully integrated to the Python community.

Thanks to the magic of pip, and the help of the Tryton community ( Cedric Krier, et al ), installing the latest GNU Health version is as easy as running

pip install –user trytond_health_profile

This will install the requirements ( the tryton server and all the standard GNU Health modules ) automatically and in your “$HOME/.local” directory. I will be updating the installation process at the wiki today.
The main site is the GNU Savannah where all the development and discussion takes place.

There are many improvements, bug fixes and news features, some of them :

  • CalDav compatibility (it allows complex calendar views and settings for appointments and hospitalizations)
  • Support for JSON RPC protocol
  • Fully Tryton 2.2 compatible
  • Enhanced Medication form
  • New Medicament categories
  • Medication pregnancy category
  • Included the latest WHO essential medicines (17th edition)
  • New translation engine (to be used with .po format)
  • Improve Laboratory model and functionality

Thanks to all of you for contributing with your code, testing, translating and documenting the project !


About GNU Health

GNU Health (formerly known as “Medical”) is a free (GPL license), Health and Hospital Information System that provides the following functionality :
  • Electronic Medical Record (EMR)

  • Hospital Information System (HIS)
  • Health Information System

GNU Health is an official GNU Package and is part of GNU Solidario. GNU Solidario is a NGO that delivers education and health to emerging economies with free software.

GNU Health is the Hospital Information System chosen by the United Nations International Institute of Global Health.

Main site : health.gnu.org

Governments hosting GNU Health through their portals :