Award for Open Source Application for Analysing Health Data

Health Atlas Ireland, an Open Source application to analyse health related datasets using geographical information systems (GIS) and statistical software, was one of twenty projects that were given the 'Prime Minister Public Service Excellence Award'. The awards were handed out last month by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

Health Atlas Ireland is based on the Open Source content management system Plone and the Open Source application server Zope. It was selected for the Award because of its capacity to innovate and its technical perfection, writes Zeapartners, a network of companies involved in Plone and Zope. "This innovative Irish project greatly improves the quality and the efficiency of services delivered by health services."

According to Zeapartners, the Health Atlas Ireland application is easily transferable to other organisations. "Its potential for replication is enormous. This project opens the way to international software collaboration. The development of such software sharing initiatives helps underpin the sustainability of public services and makes a real difference now and into the future."

The e-Government project Health Atlas Ireland is a joint Health Service Executive and academic initiative. In its presentation, Health Atlas Ireland writes: "In the absence of an off-the-shelf solution, a new system was designed and developed. An EU restricted tendering process selected OpenApp and Siemens Ireland as development partners."

It integrates geographical information technologies, database software and statistical techniques. A user friendly interface supports web-enabled access across the Irish health sector and collaborating agencies. Health Atlas Ireland enables controlled access to maps, data and analyses for service planning and delivery, major incident response, epidemiology and research to improve the health of patients, their families and the population.

© European Communities 2008
Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Business and Citizens (IDABC)

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