Linking theoretical perspectives to analyze health informatics in Brazil

Abstract

Throughout the last thirty years, Brazil has developed health information systems (HIS). However, to date these HIS are fragmented and continuous endeavors to integrate them have failed. This leads to important questions such as: which barriers are hindering the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in health in Brazil? What are the consequences of this on Brazilian society? Thus, this essay links two theoretical streams, namely: (a) ICT in Developing Countries and (b) Information and Informatics in Health, in order to propose a model to analyze health informatics in Brazil. The proposed model considers health informatics as a public policy aiming at using ICT to assist the society in health issues, setting up quality features for this policy, namely: democratization, effectiveness, preservation, and synergy. The proposed model also enables the analysis of the trajectory of this public policy via the actors involved with it - politicians, civil servants, and civil society -, who interact with each other within spaces influenced by elements as systems and previous standards, as well as with other related public policies.