CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Yearb Med Inform 2021; 30(01): 328-334
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1726496
Information on IMIA Regional Groups

Middle East and North African Health Informatics Association (MENAHIA)

Health Informatics Response to COVID-19 Crisis
Mahmood Tara
1   Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, Member of the Iranian Medical Informatics Association, Department of Medical Informatics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
,
Taweel Adel
2   Department of Computer Science, Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine
,
Alhuwail Dari
3   Department of Information Science, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University; Kuwait Health Informatics Association, Kuwait
,
Dena A. Al Thani
4   Information and Computing Technology Division, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Eiman Al-Jafar
5   Department of Health Informatics and Information Management, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University; Kuwait Health Informatics Association, Kuwait
,
Eman Abu Hamra
6   Master of Public Health - Al Quds University, Palestine
,
Hassan Ghazal
7   Moroccan Society for Telemedicine and eHealth, Morocco & National Center for Scientific and Technical Research, Rabat, Morocco
,
Hoda Wahba
8   Ain Shams University Virtual Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
,
Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy
9   President of the Iranian Medical Informatics Association, Health Information Technology Department, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
,
Khalid AlKhalifa
10   National Health Informatics Committee, Supreme Council of Health, Manama, Bahrain
,
Leena Joseph
11   Oman College of Health Sciences, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
,
Mohamed Zeroug
12   Société Algérienne de Télémédecine et de eSanté, SATeS, Algeria
,
Mohammad Bani Odeh
13   Palestine National Institute of Public Health, Ramallah, Palestine
,
Mohammed I. Alhefzi
14   Vice President, Saudi Association for Health Informatics, Saudi Arabia
,
Mounir Hamdi
15   College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Mowafa Househ
16   Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
,
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji
17   Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics; President of the eHealth Development Association, Amman, Jordan
,
Osama El Hassan
18   Health Informatics & Smart Health Department, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE
,
Salim Abdullah Al-Salmi
19   Oman College of Health Sciences, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman
,
Tamer Amara
20   Ain Sham University Virtual Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
,
Zoubir Sari
21   Société Algérienne de Télémédecine et de eSanté, SATeS, Algeria
› Author Affiliations

Summary

The unforeseen pandemic of COVID-19 forced all countries worldwide to appreciate digital solutions and their potential contributions in managing such outbreaks. Countries began to share their knowledge and ongoing experiences on how to employ the latest technologies to trace infected cases, warn people on potential danger, increase social and population awareness, and how to provide effective and efficient telehealth services. MENAHIA (The Middle East and North Africa Health Informatics Association), established in 2018, as a new IMIA regional chapter which has started regional work in several areas of collaboration and knowledge sharing, particularly focused on the common basis of MENA countries’ needs towards health informatics solutions regarding COVID-19 crisis management. This article briefly presents health informatics activities and prospects by countries of the Region with a non-exclusive focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. Needless to say, not all the countries have reported using this platform, and some may have reported through other venues.



Publication History

Article published online:
21 April 2021

© 2021. IMIA and Thieme. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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