Protecting Personal Information (PDF 162KB)

Responses to a Consultation Paper

Consent - Patient Information Leaflet- Consent - it's up to you (PDF 15 KB)

Consent - Patient Information Leaflet- Consent - it's up to you

Information and education in schistosomiasis control: an analysis of the situation in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This paper presents the main ideas discussed in the round-table "Social and Educacional Aspects of Schistosomiasis Control", during the VII International Symposium of Schistosomiais. Considering the perspectives of schistosomiasis control in Brazil, it is described the example of the State of Minas Gerais , where the disease has been registered for more than seven decades. The importance of an extensive evaluation is now more important, considering the recent change in the Brazilian health system, since the Federal responsibility for the tropical diseases control programs have been replaced by the municipalities coordination. In this way, it is urgent to develop effective alternatives to assist the municipal staffs in the control task. In the specific case of health education, one observes a wide gap between the planned objectives and what is in fact carried out. Instant objectives and the utilization of traditional techniques prevail, which do not take into account the active participation of the population involved. Based on the authors' experience in the scientific and health education, the paper analyzes: (1) some data from a case study in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, which presents the social representation and perception of schistosomiasis by the population; (2) an analysis of 35 different informative and educative materials used in Brazil since the sixties, and (3) some recommendations resulted from the studies that were carried out.

Information systems for water resources management improvement in developing countries

Water resources management, as also water service provision projects in developing countries have difficulties to take adequate decisions due to scarce reliable information, and a lack of proper information managing. Some appropriate tools need to be developed in order to improve decision making to improve water management and access of the poorest, through the design of Decision Support Systems (DSS). On the one side, a DSS for developing co-operation projects on water access improvement has been developed. Such a tool has specific context constrains (structure of the system, software requirements) and needs (Logical Framework Approach monitoring, organizational-learning, accountability and evaluation) that shall be considered for its design. Key aspects for its successful implementation have appeared to be a participatory design of the system and support of the managerial positions at the inception phase. A case study in Tanzania was conducted, together with the Spanish NGO ONGAWA – Ingeniería para el Desarrollo. On the other side, DSS are required also to improve decision making on water management resources in order to achieve a sustainable development that not only improves the living conditions of the population in developing countries, but that also does not hinder opportunities of the poorest on those context. A DSS made to fulfil these requirements shall be using information from water resources modelling, as also on the environment and the social context. Through the research, a case study has been conducted in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, an endhorreic basin 160 km south of Addis Ababa. There, water has been modelled using ArcSWAT, a physically based model which can assess the impact of land management practices on large complex watersheds with varying soils, land use and management conditions over long periods of time. Moreover, governance on water and environment as also the socioeconomic context have been studied.

Equality Information Work Plan (PDF 24 KB)

Monitoring of the usage of health services by the different Section 75 groups is a key aspect of the equality information agenda.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Strategy (PDF 383 KB)

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Vision Statement, issued for consultation in July 2001, describes a long-term vision for the use of ICT in the Health and Personal Social Services (HPSS). Responses to the consultation strongly supported the Strategy Vision. The ICT Strategy for the HPSS is aimed at delivering the Vision. It is based on analysis of the current use of ICT in the service and consultation with service users, those directly involved in health and social care, and the Department for Health, Personal Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS / the Department). Developments under way and planned elsewhere, particularly in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, have been reviewed. Suppliers of ICT products and services were invited to present their perspectives on the future of ICT in health and social care. åÊ

Information and Communications Technology Strategy - for Consultation: Management Summary (PDF 75 KB)

Management Summary - June 2002

Protecting Personal Information (PDF 83KB)

A Consultation Paper

A Cladistic Analysis of Inaequalium (Coscarón & Wygodzinsky, 1984), with Information on Geographical Distribution (Diptera: Simuliidae)

The black flies of the genus Inaequalium present a Neotropical distribution, with Panama at the northern limit, and the Argentinian pampas at the southern, but do not occur in the Central Amazon. This study offers a cladistic analysis establishing a hypothesis of relationships between the species of Inaequalium. A total of 37 characters have been considered in order to establish the hypothetic phylogenetic relationships. Cerqueirellum (Py-Daniel, 1983) was considered as outgroup. Data were analyzed using Henning 86 version 1.5. Wich the ie* command and implicit enumeration a unique possible cladogram was obtained in Inaequalium with 52 steps, and a CI of 0.76 and RI of 0.81. Two well-defined clades was obtained in the resulting cladogram, the "botulibranchium" species-group, includes I. travassosi, I. souzalopesi, I. botulibranchium and I. petropoliense, and the "inaequale" species-group, includes I. rappae, I. nahimi, I. inaequale, I. leopoldense, I. subnigrum, I. diversibranchium, I. mariavulcanoae, I. nogueirai, I. beaupertuyi, I. clavibranchium and I. subclavibranchium.

Analyse de montres contrefaites possédant un bracelet parfumé: démarche de détection des composés volatils et vecteur d'information sur le phénomène

Comment l'analyse chimique des produits contrefaits peut-elle contribuer à mieux comprendre le phénomène de la contrefaçon?Pour appréhender cette question, une approche novatrice basée sur l'analyse par SPME GC-MS des composés volatils de trente-neuf bracelets parfumés présents sur des contrefaçons horlogères a été mise en oeuvre.La détection de plusieurs dizaines de composés par montre a permis de définir des profils chimiques discriminants. Au total, trois groupes de montres possédant des profils comparables ont été détectés. Ces groupes ont été mis en perspective de liens physiques détectés sur la base du marquage des bracelets (marques et logos) par la fédération de l'industrie horlogère suisse (FH) et des informations spatiotemporelles des saisies. Les montres provenant d'une même saisie présentent systématiquement des liens physiques, mais pas forcément des profils chimiques similaires. Il en ressort que les profils chimiques peuvent fournir une information complémentaire à l'analyse des marquages, qu'ils varient peu dans le temps et que des montres liées chimiquement sont retrouvées dans le monde entier. Cette étude exploratoire révèle ainsi le potentielle d'exploitation de techniques d'analyse complémentaires pour mieux comprendre les modes de production, voire de diffusion de la contrefaçon. Finalement, la méthode analytique a permis de détecter des composés de plastiques en sus des constituants de parfums. Ce résultat laisse entrevoir la possibilité d'exploiterla méthode pour une large gamme de produits contrefaits.

Information and Communications: ICT Strategy Vision Statement (PDF 323KB)

The Vision for ICT to Support Health and Social Care Services

Statutory Equality Agenda Information Base for DHSSPS and HPSS (PDF 25 KB)

This draft Action Plan: Briefly outlines eleven broad sets of actions to identify and address the information that is required to meet the statutory Equality duties of DHSS&PS and the HPSS; andSummarises the action points in tabular form, with a note of the roles and detailed tasks, target dates and key groups and individuals involved in undertaking the actions. åÊ