Leslie,
The Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) has during the last 3-4
years developed e.g. policies, strategies, processes, educational/training
programmes, and the District Health Information Software (DHIS) application
tools in South Africa. HISP is a collaborative R&D programme comprising four
universities. The DHIS is an integrated Routine Health Information System
for monthly/quarterly data gradually being turned into a hub for a range of
health applications through interfacing (e.g. to lab systems, medical supply
systems, or GIS tools ) or incorporation of new data sets previously
captured by inappropriate tools (spreadsheets, EpiInfo 6, etc).
The DHIS is based on Access, Excel, VB, Java, XML - we started with
Access/Excel and are SLOOOWLY moving various components towards XML/Java.
This is only partially a technical question - politics, standards, and
strategic decisions taken by the Ministry of Health are often decisive.
It's Open Source, it's been adopted as a national standard in South Africa,
and it's currently being piloted or tested in a range of other countries.
Malawi has decided to implement it from July - I'm currently negotiating
with Chet N Chaulagai (Malawi DoH, you probably know him) how we are going
to make a couple of adaptions and write Malawi-specific manuals in June.
It's also being considered in Ghana, by the way - met some people from the
Ghana DoH yesterday (here in Cape Town) and one of my collegues have
demonstrated the software in Accra (ref here would be e.g. Peter Wondergem
at USAID).
It's important to understand that our DHIS software is a small part of what
we're doing - the bulk of our efforts are geared towards developing a local
information culture, data/information integration, decentralisation,
democratisation, and transformation of the health sector towards a PHC
approach.
On your side:
I'm glad John Snow is moving towards Open Source - I met a couple of your
collegues during the recent RHINO conference in Washington DC and saw some
of their apps, but they did not want to share code (despite the apps having
been developed with USAID funding).
A couple of specific points:
1. Have you seen the "Supply Chain Manager" software developed and used in
Kenya over the last couple of years? I think that was done with USAID
funding ...., and it provides as far as I can recall almost exactly the same
functionality as your app.
2. Don't mess up your pilot by porting the application now - if the pilot is
successful and the application adopted, you can port it later if necessary.
MS Office is of course not "Open Source" - neither is Windows - but 95+% of
all computers in developing countries are currently using Windows (or some
DOS) and a large percentage have MS Office (legal or pirated). So whereas it
might be relevant to port your app to e.g. Linux in the future, it will have
marginal impact to begin with so it can wait.
3. Releasing an app under open source is easy - just use a standard GPL
license text to ensure that nobody uses your code for commercial gain. Given
the type of application you have, this is highly unlikely in any case. Don't
expect any monetary showers, though - donors are willing to fund concrete
implementations of systems (which might necessitate development), not
software development per se.
4. Since Andrew recommended OIO: We looked at OIO recently with the view of
using some parts of it for our National Data Dictionary (which is XML/Java
based), but found it not suitable for the purpose.
I'm posting this to the list because it contains some general advice, but I
suggest any detailed discussions on e.g. interfacing your "Supply Chain
Manager" with the DHIS in Malawi or Ghana should be off list (my email
address is below).
Regards
Calle
*********************************************
Calle Hedberg
3 Pillans Road,
7700 Rosebank, SOUTH AFRICA
Tel/fax (home): +27-21-685-6472; Cell: +27-82-853-5352
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*********************************************
> First, are there any active projects related to the development
> and/or dissemination of open source applications in public health?
>
> Second, I am exploring the possibility of turning an internally
> developed prototype application into an open source project. The
> application, called "Supply Chain Manager", is designed to help
> organizations in developing countries manage the distribution of
> health supplies (primarily contraceptives) from central warehouses
> down to service delivery points and ultimately to consumers. The
> prototype is currently being piloted in public health organizations in
> Malawi and Ghana. It is written in Access 97, and its development to
> date has been funded under a contract with the US Agency for
> International Development (since it is a government-funded activity,
> it is already public domain).
>
> I am looking for advice on how to go about launching this as an open
> source project.
> 1) Is it feasible to continue to develop in Access, or do we need to
> first consider rewriting the prototype on an open-source platform?
> 2) Are there resources for starting and managing an open source
> software project, particularly in the areas health and/or
> international development?
> 3) Finally, is anyone interested in collaborating with us or
> advising us on this project? If so, I'd be delighted to hear from
> you. I can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Leslie B. Rock
> Information Systems Advisor
> DELIVER/John Snow, Inc.
> 1616 N. Ft. Myer Dr.
> 11th floor
> Arlington, VA 22209
> USA
> tel: +1-703-528-7474
> fax: +1-703-528-7480
> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
