Following the SARS outbreak in 2003, China’s Ministry of Health renewed its emphasis on improving the public health infrastructure. The Ministry has allocated funding to strengthen health care in rural as well as urban areas, and to fortifying the country’s disease prevention and control network. STC is committed to ensuring that China meets its public health goals in order to safeguard its nearly 1.4 billion citizens.

Communicable Disease Information System - Hong Kong

STC worked with the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), Department of Health, to provide an electronic platform for management and sharing of information and data on disease control to strengthen Hong Kong's response capabilities. The Communicable Disease Information System (CDIS) covers the funcitonal areas of communicable disease management, including public health surveillance, outbreak investigation, and emergency response, planning, and evaluation.

Public Health Informatics Seminar - Beijing

STC provided a public health informatics seminar to support the development of regional health information systems in Beijing. Presented to senior management and technical experts from each of the 18 District Health Bureaus, the seminar focused on the value of information systems in support of public health initiatives.

The seminar consisted of three major sessions: 1) health informatics practices, including the processes used to assess the city’s public health capabilities and developmental planning of regional health information systems; 2) examples of existing public health information systems such as immunization registries, communicable disease reporting, and environmental health solutions; 3) early warning and detection, outbreak management, and public health emergency response.

Early Warning/ Syndromic Surveillance - Beijing

STC is working with local business partners in China to develop an integrated disease surveillance system in Beijing. This comprehensive system has multi-level surveillance functionality from syndromic surveillance to case reporting. The initial deployment is planned for over 50 major hospitals in Beijing.

In order to expedite data collection, dropdown lists are provided with standardized terminology in both English and Chinese. The standardized terminology and code set unsure the data consistency and interoperability with other electronic health systems. A similar approach is applied to common lab tests using the LOINC code set.