Making the Case for Informatics in Global Health

Health Informatics: the scientific field that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and optimal use of biomedical information, data, and knowledge for problem solving and decision making. Its application for improving global health and achieving health equity for all people worldwide can be called Global Health Informatics. Informatics has the potential to improve healthcare quality and enable the next generation of biomedical and translational research through the use of technology and complex analytics. We present example informatics methods, infrastructure, and projects undertaken by the Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Nursing, and Informatics faculty in the Center for Clinical Translational Sciences. Generalized methods and infrastructure developed at the University are applicable to Global Health and under-resourced settings.