Laura Nino, Daisy Yoo, Camila Nino Fernandez, and Caroline Hummels
Enabling plurality in ICT public health surveillance
In the course of the 20th century public health surveillance systems became pervasive on a global scale, in particular, in the context of the establishment of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the boom of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in healthcare. Data pouring out of the ICT public health surveillance systems became integral to understanding, managing and planning health activities for healthcare systems and organizations worldwide. However, there are populations who are regrettably invisible to public health surveillance systems. In Colombia, these are mostly ethnic minorities of Afro-Colombian groups with limited engagement with national healthcare institutions. Their invisibility has negative consequences for both the public healthcare systems and these minorities. We investigate how systemic design can increase ethnic inclusion in ICT public health surveillance by applying a linear and complex approach to participation in systems. As a result, systemic design opportunities were identified and translated into a framework to design an ICT tool for an ethnomedical centre in Bogota. This ICT tool aims to restore relations and increase the visibility and participation of Afro-Colombian practices in public health surveillance systems.
Keywords: systemic design, ICT public health surveillance, ethnic minorities, ancestral midwifery, perinatal care
