It probably has to do with the daily frustrations of working in these new
spaces. On occasion we (this time Canada and Australia) will wade in and
thump each other like characters from a "Punch and Judy" show (by the way,
an early example of gender equity). A bit of 'sport' and a bit of food for
thought. Not everybody thinks along the same lines when looking at this
space. I offer the following:

I am running several activities dealing with health informatics for
international development. Most involve people trying to get their heads
around what are the issues - at multiple levels - and where does all this
information and communiction technology fit in. A consultant to a major
institution recently offered the following - which I paraphrase -

   Health Informatics for developing counties is a good idea since it
   will promote the U.S. export of diagnostic and information mangement
   systems, helping the balance of payments, and the longer production
   runs will bring down costs in the U.S. reducing the U.S. health care
   crisis.

The statement, like a lot of others, is a reasonable place to open up a
discussion. Hopefully, it is not the conclusion of the discussion. It is
a bit like this with CLICK4HP postings. Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]>