GNU Health: ADAV Weimar and GNU Solidario join forces in Telemedicine with GNU Health in Afghanistan

ADAV-Weimar (Afghan-German Doctors Association) and GNU Solidario have formalized a agreement to implement GNU Health for local and remote physicians to improve the medical care of the people in Afghanistan.

ADAV-Weimar (Afghan-German Doctors Association) is a registered voluntary association in Germany, founded in 2004 and counts with the support of over 150 health professionals from around the world. The organization provides scientific and practical help with establishing medical facilities and efficient healthcare in Afghanistan. It supports with building small but efficient Special Clinics and practices knowledge transfer by training Afghani doctors and medical staff and providing telemedicine. Furthermore, ADAV Weimar in co-operation with German E-Learning specialist Lecturio and partner Universities in Afghanistan has established an E-Learning program for medical students that provides free access to content prepared by awarded lectures from world class. Thus, ADAV-Weimar has become an inherent part of the international relations of all medical faculties in Afghanistan.

Dr. Luis Falcon, president of GNU Solidario, and Dr. Azim Mosafer, chairman of ADAV-Weimar e.V, signed this past April an initial three-year agreement to setup GNU Health Hospital Management systems, where physicians both from Afghanistan and abroad can work together to improve the healthcare and lives of the Afghan women, men and children.

Dr. Azim Mosafer – an Afghan-born German spine surgeon – is the head of the German-Afghan Doctors Association and currently involved in a European-Afghani telemedicine project. In a recent interview, Dr. Mosafer, who travels once a year to Afghanistan stressed the importance of telemedicine, at a national level and also within the country, to also provide medical care to people living in rural areas.

Since 2005 I have traveled to Afghanistan once a year for two weeks, to provide medical care. However, as a result of the high security risks in Afghanistan, fewer and fewer of my colleagues were willing to accompany me. We also began to think about doing something more effective. Even within Afghanistan, people have to travel great distances and overcome geographic obstacles in order to obtain medical care. With telemedicine such geographic hurdles can by bypassed internationally, but also inside the country.

Dr. Azim Mosafer, interview on AO spine. Source ADAV Weimar

The project has already started and the initial GNU Health Hospital Management training provided to the ADAV Weimar personnel from Germany. Initially, the implementation will provide the GNU Health Hospital Management System with telemedicine support and functionality such as:

• General Practice
• Family Medicine
• Surgery
• Laboratory
• Ophthalmology
• Medical Imaging
• Laboratory
• Odontology
• Gynecology and Obstetrics
• Pediatrics
• Health, Functioning and Disability

In GNU Solidario, we are proud to cooperate with ADAV Weimar implementing the GNU Health ecosystem. We are excited to provide the latest technology in health informatics to the betterment of science and society. The European doctors will be able to cooperate with the local health professionals in providing the best clinical assessment and medical care possible to the Afghan children, women and men, specially in this difficult times. It is now when they need it most.

Dr. Luis Falcon

This is just the beginning of the journey. We are confident that other components from the Libre digital health ecosystem, such as the GNU Health Federation and MyGNUHealth Personal Health Record will further help health professionals in Afghanistan and Europe the best tools for cooperation, knowledge transfer and medical care to the people in Afghanistan.

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