Three technical working groups within the EU Strengthening Public Health Institutes (SPHI) project in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been established with initial introductory and planning meetings held at the end of January and beginning of February.
The Public Health Information System (PHIS) working group met on January 26-27 in Sarajevo at the Federal Ministry of Health offices. During the PHIS meeting, which focused on performance of quality collection, monitoring and evaluation of health related data, discussions were led by Niles Rasmussen, a Health Statistics Expert working on the project. The meeting addressed issues related to EU regulation on Public Health Statistics: themes and relevance for BiH; Eurostat activities and DG Sanco activities and their public health data requirements and indicators.
A meeting of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) working group was held on January 28-29 in Banja Luka in the premises of the Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Srpska. Discussions were led by ICT Expert Srdjan Stakic and assisted by Health Statistics Expert Niels Rasmussen. The meeting covered an introductory discussion on the tools and means of communication and coordination among all related public health institutions, cataloguing existing software infrastructure and ICT processes, exploring options for the upgrade and revision of ICT systems in public health and developing a proposal for new ICT related policies, strategies and plans.
The New Public Health (NPH) working group met on February 10-11 in Sarajevo at the Federal Ministry of Health offices. NPH meeting discussions were led by Dr. Lothar Springer, project Team Leader and Public Health Expert. The meeting covered an introduction to New Public health approach as well as Health Promotion and Disease Prevention activities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina during the last five years. The project will use current information on the activities of all Public Health Institutes in the country to build up further work. Gathered information will as well help prioritize pertinent issues during the project implementation in supporting entity PHIs in implementation of existing relevant policies and strategies focused on public health promotion and disease prevention according to the New Public Health approach. An overall with aim is to improve national preparedness to public health threats.
The activities of these three working groups will be greatly interconnected throughout the course of the SPHI project.
From left: Sabina Sahman-Salihbegovic, Ministry of Civil Affairs, BiH and Srdjan Stakic, IT Expert/Software Engineer (EPOS)
From left: Ljubinka Kubat - Health Insurance Fund RS; Sabaha Dracic-Purivatra - PHI, Sarajevo Canton, FBiH; Irena Jokic - Federal PHI, FBiH; Sabina Shahman -
Ministry of Civil Affairs, BiH
From left: Biljana Janjic - Regional PHI Doboj, RS, BiH; Nina Rodic-Vukmir - PHI Banja Luka, RS, BiH; Senka Dimitrjevic - Regional PHI East Sarajevo, RS, BiH; Aida Ramic-Catak - Federal PHI, FBiH, BiH; Alen Seranic - MoH and Social Welfare RS, BiH
Center: Dr. Lothar Springer - Team Leader and Public Health Expert (EPOS) |
