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Today’s blog comes to us from our GLOBALHealthPR Australia partner, VIVA! Communications

It is the sum of every individual event, large and small, that makes World Rabies Day a global movement.

Saturday, September 28, 2013 marks the sixth annual World Rabies Day, co- sponsored by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). World Rabies Day aims to raise awareness about and prevent the spread of rabies –  a life-threatening disease that affects more than 3.3 billion people living in enzootic areas.

Rabies is the deadliest disease on earth with a 99.9 per cent fatality rate once the first sign of clinical symptoms appear. Rabies is endemic in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas and is transmitted by a wide range of animals. The virus attacks the central nervous system causing severely distressing neurological symptoms before death occurs. [Read more…] about World Rabies Day 2013 is Fast Approaching!

Zambia efficiently tracks medical histories and public health. “Why not bring it to the US?” asks Brittany Allgood of Spectrum, GlobalHealthPR partner in the United States.

In a land where health care illiteracy is prevalent and disease outbreaks can spread quickly due to poor environmental and sanitation conditions, how do you efficiently document individual medical histories and monitor public health?

In Zambia, health care institutions are using innovative technology to track and cater to health care needs. SmartCare – conceived in 2003 and developed by Zambia’s Ministry of Health and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention – is an electronic health record (EHR) system designed with local challenges in mind.

How does it work?

Similar to loading money onto a D.C. Metro SmartTrip card, medical personnel can load a patient’s health care records onto a SmartCare card to be taken home for safe keeping. Records include personal information about illness, prescriptions, lab results and more, and data analysis of records can reveal trends in the spread of disease.

The SmartCare system is designed to function in areas with minimal telecommunication capabilities and frequent power outages. Lending credibility to the system and expanding its reach, the World Health Organization, USAID and UNICEF are among SmartCare partners.

The result?

In addition to aiding doctor efficiency with user-friendly, rapid data-entry capabilities, SmartCare is intended to improve data accuracy and enable cost-effective, confidential, life-long quality health care.

With the benefits to Zambian patients in mind, I wonder how this system can be applied to improve health care in other parts of the world. For example, considering the system’s reliability and ease of use, how could it be used to improve health care in disaster relief situations?

What’s up with electronic medical records in the U.S.?

Even in a community where the average person can complete a medical form unaided, there are benefits to implementing an EHR system. Think about it – how much time have you wasted filling and re-filling out forms at the doctor or dentist office? Are you sure you remembered every detail each time?

We’ve all heard about the Affordable Care Act, which goes into effect on January 1, 2014. We won’t go into the details here, but one program initiative is to advance the transition from paper records to EHRs. According to Medical News Today, many question the ease of use and integration process of this new IT system, and there’s no doubt that others are concerned about privacy issues.

Can we take a lesson from our friends in Africa?

A SmartCare system in the U.S. could address concerns about ease of use and confidentiality of EHRs. Personally, I’d appreciate having a password-protected card or flash drive containing all my medical records and insurance information. If doctors and dentists accepted this form of information transference, it would save a lot of time during visits.

What’s your take on adopting EHRs in the U.S. – an important initiative or expensive waste of time?