Florence Harding, Information Officer, Technical Support Group,
Health Department, Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House
Pall Mall, LONDON SW1Y 5HX
Tel & Fax: 44 171 747 6543

Proposal
A dedicated listserver to discuss Health Information Systems for Commonwealth 
Countries

Commonwealth Health Ministers at their 12th triennial meeting on "Health 
Sector Reforms in the Interests of Health for All" discussed information 
systems as a managerial tool as one of the topics. 

The main recommendation made to the Secretariat under this topic was to 
assist countries to acquire properly designed and maintained information 
systems for the health sector. A strategy paper which outlines the context, 
issues, phases and planned activities for work in this area is available on 
request from [log in to unmask]
 
I would like to create a listserver, to provide a forum for discussing health 
information systems for Commonwealth countries. I would like to get some idea 
of interest in this forum and who might benefit from it. To this end, I am 
conducting a short survey, soliciting your response to this idea. In 
particular,

· What sort of discussions in your opinion do you think this listserver could 
engage in - and how are these discussions different from others being held 
presently?

· Is a listserver a valuable mechanism for you to use, and why?

· Who are the key people who could make this listserver Commonwealth centred?

· How would the discussions from this listserver benefit you?

· How could we safeguard the quality of discussions? And limit it if 
necessary? What use can we (in the ComSec) make of the discussions?

· How might this forum be of interest and provide information you are not 
able to get from elsewhere?


Finally, I would be grateful if you would furnish the following details about 
yourself:
· Name, Title, Organisation, Country you are based in
· Your particular interest in Health Information Systems and/or Commonwealth 
countries
· What you feel you are able to contribute and bring to the discussions


Please contact me if you have any specific queries. Thanks for taking the 
time to respond, and I look forward to hearing your comments.

Please pass this on to any person or group you think may be interested in 
joining this listserver.