A philosophy for health informatics education in developing countries: Nigeria as a case study

The use of computers in the health sector has increased significantly during the last few years in Nigeria. This paper addresses the integration of health and informatics education, or health education and informatics education, or informatics education in health care delivery. It gives an introduction to the status of a health informatics programme in the daily practice of computer use. The essence of a health informatics curriculum, the planning and administration of the programme in medical schools, and what informatics education offers the health sector, even in a developing country, are presented. The problems of administering an informatics programme in a conventional medical training curriculum are highlighted. The article describes the philosophy which should underline the framework for the formulation of appropriate national policies and curricula for health informatics education in developing countries, using Nigeria as a case study.