Health Data, Information, and Knowledge Sharing for Addressing the COVID-19

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Informatics
• Pandemic Management

Background:

• The 2021 International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Yearbook focuses on
• Managing Pandemics with Health Informatics - Successes and Challenges.
• This edition introduces key papers, the IMIA President's statement, and WHO dialogues.

Discussion:

• Global health informatics facilitated data collection, standardization, and dissemination during the pandemic.
• Artificial intelligence and natural language processing were vital for fact-checking information from various sources.
• The pandemic highlighted new challenges and opportunities for telehealth services.

Key Insights:

• Health informatics enabled worldwide data sharing for public health, social networks, and scientific literature.
• Bioinformatics, including next-generation sequencing, was instrumental in decoding the virus and developing mRNA vaccines.
• The critical need for timely, reliable, and open global information for decision-making during outbreaks was evident.

Outlook:

• Implementing Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data principles is essential for effective pandemic response.
• Future efforts must address ethical considerations alongside technological advancements in health informatics.
• Continued innovation in health informatics is vital for strengthening global health security and pandemic preparedness.