She said that was the way to go to achieve greater performance and optimise the use of limited resources.
"Our government has always endorsed adoption of new technologies. Besides the identification of Telehealth by the Health Ministry since the 1990s, the public health domain in the ministry has moved forward in the use of ICT," she said when opening the 18th Public Health Colloquium and International Public Health Conference by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), here.
Rosnah said several public health disease surveillance systems were currently in use, notably the CDCIS e-notification, TBIS (Tuberculosis Information System), e-Dengue and e-Measles.
Although the medical field had been a late starter in the information and technology era, not due to resistance but more so from its complexity, it was a beginning that needed to be continued, she said.
Rosnah also said that the achievements of the national public health strategies in the 20th century had improved the Malaysian quality of life.
This was proven when the life expectancy at birth among Malaysians rose between 1970 and 2008, from 61.6 to 71.6 years for men and from 65.6 to 76.4 years for women, she said.
In the meantime, the infant mortality dropped substantially, from 39.4 to 6.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, just above Australia's at five per 1,000 live births and Singapore's at 3.2 per 1,000 live births, she added.
"This is similar to the average life expectancy of 72 and 76 years for men and women, respectively, in 2006 in the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
"We are experiencing an increase in life expectancy, reduction in maternal and infant mortality and the elimination or reduction of many communicable diseases as attested to by the recognition given to Malaysia by world bodies such as WHO," she said.
Rosnah also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Faculty of Medicine of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) to launch a strategic partnership in public health research.
The deputy dean of the UKM Faculty of Medicine, Prof Dr Zaleha Abdullah Mahdi, and her counterpart from UAEU Prof Dr Leena Mohamed Hadi Amiri were the signatories.
The MoU also includes exchange of educational and research staff as well as publications, academic material and other information between the two institutions for three years from November.
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Quelle/Source: Bernama, 27.09.2011
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