NEW TECHNOLOGIES HELP TO MONITOR VIRAL HEPATITIS IN TURKMENISTAN

Training health workers on a new electronic system.

QED’s work supporting improved e-government systems in Turkmenistan has been featured in a USAID News Release.

Read the full release here.

As part of joint activities to prevent and control infectious diseases, the World Health Organization Country Office and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Turkmenistan have completed another step in establishing an electronic monitoring system for patients with viral hepatitis. In early 2021, the two organizations assisted specialists from the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan (MoH) in training health workers on the use of the electronic system, including both data entry and analysis.

The control and prevention of viral hepatitis in Turkmenistan is one of the major priorities for the country’s health system; to achieve the strategic goal of eliminating hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030(link is external), more modern and effective approaches, and comprehensive measures must be implemented. Reducing the burden of viral hepatitis requires developing a strong strategic information system to understand viral hepatitis epidemics and focus public health responses. In Turkmenistan and many other countries, this means developing and deploying an electronic system for monitoring data related to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of parenteral viral hepatitis.

Development of the electronic monitoring system for patients with viral hepatitis began in Turkmenistan in 2019 with the support of WHO, along with USAID and its implementing partner the QED Group. It allows health care workers and public health professionals to digitally record each case of viral hepatitis along with supporting epidemiological and clinical information. Collecting and monitoring these data is a critical step to analyzing population-level epidemiological data in order to monitor trends, mobilize effective resources to communities with the most need, and monitor the effectiveness and impact of both individual treatment regimens as well as broader public health control efforts.

Read the full release here.