UHC requires very particular health information systems (HIS). Some its characteristics include:
- It should operate at the primary health care and outreach level, be patient based, and able to carry longitudinal records of patients. This is different from traditional HIS which were aggregate based.
- They should be able to provide for offline and online processing, given the severe constraints to Internet experienced at the primary care level.
- They should be able to provide for referral linkages between the person at the village to the primary health care clinic, the district hospital and back, to ensure the patient gets continuity of care.
And various other characteristics.
For students interested in making a difference for the poor in the world, with good design and vizualization skills, and strong development abilities which can be contextualized for different contexts of use, and welcome to express their interest. The work will be set for the primary health care system in India.