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2025-10-06 at 11:24 pm #51179
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantOne of the digital technologies highlighted in Budd et al. (2020) that I find particularly significant is the use of Bluetooth-enabled COVID-19 contact-tracing applications. While the article discusses a variety of approaches, I will focus on the joint Google–Apple framework, which was rolled out in April and May 2020.
COVID-19 spreads primarily through close contact over a sustained period. To detect such interactions without compromising individual privacy, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology was applied. The system works as follows: when two smartphones come within close range (approximately one to two meters), they exchange anonymous identification keys. These keys act like digital “tokens” of interaction, containing no personal details or location data, thereby preserving user privacy.
If an individual later tests positive for COVID-19, their device holds a record of the anonymized keys from previous close contacts. With the user’s consent, these keys can be uploaded, enabling Apple and Google’s system to notify the corresponding contacts that they may have been exposed and should consider testing or self-isolation. Importantly, the keys are randomly generated and cannot be traced back to a specific person or device. You can read details here
This technology was crucial because it enabled rapid, large-scale, and automated contact tracing, minimizing reliance on traditional manual methods, which are often slow and dependent on human memory. In densely populated or highly mobile settings, the framework offered a powerful tool to break transmission chains and support public health teams. Although its effectiveness depended on widespread adoption and public trust, Bluetooth-based contact tracing marked an important advancement in the application of digital technologies for pandemic response.
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2025-10-06 at 11:19 pm #51178
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThere is DHIS2 implementation for Malaria in DOPH. But compared to other two diseases, they use case-based record instead of aggregated data. DHIS2 was not originally designed to handle individual data. Although it later develops tracker module for individual recording, it still needs to redesign its database architecture to handle large scale individual data.
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2025-10-06 at 5:56 pm #51170
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantShould you give the data out?
No. Sharing identifiable data without consent will violate confidentiality and could cause misuse or harm to patients.
How do you not violate any of the General Principles of Informatics Ethics
Principle of Information Privacy and Disposition: Individuals have the right to control their own health information and cannot be shared without patient consent.
Principle of Legitimate Infringement: Data can be shared only if there is clear justification (e.g., public health emergencies) and if approved by ethics board.
Principle of the Least Intrusive Alternative: Provided data must be anonymized without exposing individuals instead of raw personal data.
Principle of Accountability: Data use agreement and ethics approval must define roles, responsibilities and consequences of misuse.If you want to provide the data to them, what and how will you do it?
If we want to provide the data to them, we have to do the following steps.
1. Seeking approval from ethical board or relevant authority.
2. Anonymization of data by removing identifiable information such as names, address, contact details and limiting the necessary data elements only.
3. Signing a formal data use agreement for how the data will be used and findings must be shared with national health authorities.
4. Sharing data transfer via secure and encrypted channels to make sure that only the relevant parties can access those data. -
2025-10-06 at 3:48 pm #51169
Than Htike Aung
Participant1. How can surveillance help to detect and control the disease?
Surveillance can identify unusual increases in dengue-like illnesses, track seasonality, hotspots and high-risk populations for early detection of outbreak.
So that, it can trigger timely vector control interventions (such as fogging, larvicide application and community clean-up), resource allocation and monitoring.2. Should we conduct active or passive surveillance or both for the disease, why?
We should conduct both types of surveillance for the disease. Because passive surveillance is cost effective, sustainable, wide coverage and good for long term monitoring. Its limitations are covered by active surveillance such as early detection of outbreaks and capture missed cases.
3. Which method should be best to identify cases, why?
a. Cases in medical facilities VS community
Cases in medical facilities are the best to identify because dengue, especially severe dengue, often requires medical attention, making healthcare facilities the most practical and effective source for case identification.b. Sentinel VS population-based surveillance
Sentinel surveillance is the best because it is cost-efficient and provide high quality detailed data.c. Case-based VS aggregated surveillance
Case -based surveillance is the best way to identify due to outbreak nature of disease for contact tracing and hotspots mapping.d. Syndromic VS laboratory-confirmed surveillance
Syndromic is the best to identify the case because it is fast, best for early outbreak detection and most of the cases are diagnosed clinically. Laboratory confirmed surveillance is only required for definitive, accurate diagnosis and disease classification.4. What dissemination tools will you choose to disseminate monkeypox surveillance information? Why do you choose this/these tools?
Public Health Authority Website/Dashboards: It provides a single, authoritative source for the public and media. Interactive dashboards (showing case counts, geographic distribution, trends) promote transparency and allow for real-time updates.
Epidemiological Reports: These are the primary tools for public health professionals and policymakers. They provide detailed analysis, risk assessments, and recommendations for action, which is necessary for informed decision-making and resource planning.
Press Releases and Social Media Updates: To ensure accurate information reaches the broader public through traditional media channels, broad-reach public communication, especially to target vulnerable or high-risk groups. Social media allows for the quick sharing of simple, graphic-based messages about symptoms, prevention (vaccination, risk reduction), and addressing misinformation and stigma in real-time.
Health Information Exchange Systems (e.g., SMS alerts, closed electronic systems): Crucial for rapid notification to healthcare providers (hospitals, clinics, laboratories) about case definitions, testing protocols, treatment guidelines, and high-priority alerts regarding new clusters. This ensures frontline staff are prepared and follow correct procedures.
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2025-10-05 at 3:42 am #51136
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantAs a health information professional, we must act as professionals and consider all cases professionally regardless of whether there is a personal connection or not. In this case, we must consider as a person we don’t know even, she is my friend or she is a celebrity.
What should you do? Can you tell your friend?
I should do nothing. And also cannot disclose this information my friend.Can you interfere with other people or family issue?
No, I cannot. But there is (at least in Myanmar) protocol for HIV disclosure and family member notification but its responsibility lies with visiting doctors and counselors.Should your friend not know about this because she might be at risk?
Yes, she might be at risk but as health information professional, we cannot disclose this information. The most I can do is referral to the responsible healthcare provider for counseling for disclosure and partner testing but it solely depends upon the patient.Fundamental principles
Self-determination: We must respect the patient’s right to control who knows about their medical condition.
Doing good: We can do good by ensuring that the patient is counseled appropriately and follow protocols for notifications through official channels.
Do no harm: Disclosing to my friend without the consent could harm the patient and also harm the trust of health system.Our obligation is to protect patient confidentiality and the right to hold the information lies within the patient. But we have to sure that the case is handled according to public health protocols.
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2025-10-05 at 2:16 am #51135
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI would like to discuss the same project posted in previous topic discussion.
ADKAR ModelAwareness
Stakeholders were clearly informed of the need to move from paper-based systems to an electronic record platform. For every expansion, we also advocate management level and explain to operational level staffs why we need to change.Desire
Program manager, regional officers, clinicians, nurses and data assistants were motivated to adopt the system because it directly solved their operational pain points (duplication, slow reporting, difficult to track down missing patients. Moreover, able to customize to their requirements is also a motivation factor, as they can also involve in the development process by providing their feedback.Knowledge
Training sessions were provided for different levels of users, from data assistants to program managers. Although initial training was basic, ongoing refresher sessions helped users gain confidence and adapt to new workflows.Ability
Users were able to apply their training in real clinical settings since the system was designed to match existing ART workflows. Dedicated IT support team was available to troubleshoot early issues, ensuring continuity of service.Reinforcement
Continuous support, periodic system updates, and monitoring visits helped reinforce usage. Because the system became the official platform for national HIV reporting, users were motivated to consistently use it. -
2025-10-05 at 12:44 am #51134
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThe National AIDS Program (NAP) of Myanmar has successfully implemented a customized version of OpenMRS as the national platform for recording and managing all HIV patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Key Success Factors
Data
Previous efforts to digitize ART patient management failed primarily because of difficulties in converting paper-based records into digital form. This implementation succeeded by introducing an efficient approach to digitize existing paper records, overcoming the largest barrier to digital transformation.Cost
OpenMRS, being open-source, does not require licensing fees for deployment. This significantly reduced costs, making large-scale expansion and nationwide usage financially sustainable.Operation and Design
The system was designed to address operational bottlenecks and improve the efficiency of daily clinic activities. While the user interface may not have a modern look, it was tailored to reflect existing clinic workflows, which made it intuitive for users and reduced the learning curve.People
Stakeholders at all levels — from program managers to clinicians, nurses and data assistants were actively engaged in system design and implementation. This strong involvement led to high ownership, smoother transition from paper records, and consistent system adoption. -
2025-09-27 at 9:43 pm #50901
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantIn the implementation of OpenMRS for HIV care, we integrated a programmatic, guideline-based decision support system to assist clinicians in adhering to national treatment protocols. This feature ensures that 99.9% of treatments are aligned with national program guidelines, with the remaining less than 0.1% representing rare special cases that are also addressed within the guidelines.
The primary motivation for incorporating this functionality is the high turnover of clinical staff in hospitals. Since HIV patients are managed as outpatients, the clinicians providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) often rotate, and it is common for new doctors to be assigned to HIV clinics on a daily basis. Even in facilities where doctors and nurses are designated to HIV care, staff transfers eventually occur, creating continuity challenges. The decision support system within OpenMRS mitigates these issues by ensuring consistent, guideline-based treatment for all patients. Additionally, a knowledge-based information tool is embedded in the system, enabling users to access guidance whenever they are uncertain about the appropriate clinical steps.
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2025-09-27 at 1:07 pm #50894
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantIf hospitals do not use the ICD standard, disease classification would become inconsistent, making it difficult to share and compare data across facilities, compile national health statistics, or ensure interoperability. This would lead to ineffective data analysis, wrong diagnoses, and poor treatment or disease management. It would also hinder public health surveillance, disease reporting, international research, and monitoring of morbidity and mortality by health authorities. Additionally, insurance claims and reimbursement systems that rely on standardized codes would face challenges, while clinicians, administrators, and policymakers would struggle with fragmented records, ultimately weakening healthcare delivery and policy decision-making.
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2025-09-27 at 11:49 am #50889
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI think this finding of “EMR is one of top leading causes of physician burnout” is country specific and I want to refer as first world’s problem. Because there are thousands of other reasons which cause physician burnout rather than EMR in developing countries.
I have heard many concerns from healthcare personnel—ranging from community health workers to senior administrators and clinicians—regarding the use of EMRs. To prevent such issues, the primary purpose of implementing an EMR should be to address existing problems rather than create new ones. Every workflow has its own pain points, and the EMR must provide solutions to these challenges in order to encourage adoption. I refer to this as a “working incentive” for using EMRs. When healthcare professionals recognize that the system alleviates their major difficulties, they are more likely to view it as a tool that reduces their workload rather than as an added burden.
As highlighted in the paper, poorly designed EMRs place a significant strain on users. This challenge is not unique to EMRs but applies broadly to all software systems. There are, however, many ways to improve user experience. For example, clinicians primarily want to focus on treating patients, but to do so effectively, they require comprehensive and well-organized patient information. EMRs have clear advantages over paper-based systems in this regard, offering features such as patient dashboards, integration of 2D and 3D imaging, chronological record-keeping, and mapping of relationships.
An EMR should go beyond serving as a mere data-recording tool. It must harness the full potential of digital technology to truly support clinical practice and improve healthcare delivery.
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2025-09-27 at 2:18 am #50886
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThank you for sharing. As RxBox is built from off the shelf commodities, it will save a lot of money as compared to buying similar equipment from medical device companies. As the technology is better over the time, it will become cheaper in coming years. As patient is receiving ICU level monitoring at home, customer satisfaction will be the highest and it will also improve the health outcomes of patients.
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2025-09-27 at 2:07 am #50885
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThank you for sharing this project. This kind of projects opens new opportunities for massive screening of general population without heavy resources. This will greatly improve the health outcomes related to TB especially in our country like Myanmar. Without labour intensive screening work and rapid processing time will not only reduce the cost but also improve customer satisfaction.
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2025-09-19 at 11:17 pm #50743
Than Htike Aung
ParticipanteHealth is the use of information and technologies (digital tools, platforms and devices) to improve both healthcare outcomes and to promote disease prevention with increased efficiency and quality.
In my opinion, it should be short & clear like that.
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2025-09-19 at 6:24 pm #50741
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI think treatment data of HIV patients who take Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) can also be considered as big data as it also fits the characteristic of 7Vs as follows:
1. Volume: Over one hundred thousand of patients in national ART programs with decades of clinical records, viral load tests, CD4 counts, ART drugs histories and clinic visits due to lifelong nature of treatment.
2. Velocity: Rapid reporting of HIV related commodities consumption across nationwide can help supply chain management.
3. Variety: There are structured data such as drug prescriptions and lab results and also have unstructured data like counseling transcripts and clinical notes.
4. Veracity: Errors in manual data entry, self-reported adherence bias and incomplete demographic details.
5. Value: Helps to predict treatment failure and prevent drug resistance and improve retention in care, reduces mortality, and improve supply chain management.
6. Variability: Patients have different viral load suppression (VL) patterns (some achieve suppression in 6 months, others take longer) and VL machines have different levels of undetectable viral load count depending on manufacturer. Moreover, intervals of follow-up visits vary depending on the clinical status of the patient.
7. Visualization: Dashboards showing demographic and risk factors of new patients to take preventive measures, early warning indicator for pharmacovigilance monitoring, attrition rate for quality of care and drug consumption for supply chain management.
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2025-09-18 at 10:00 pm #50699
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantIn my organization, I led the implementation of OpenMRS HIV for Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) patients. The purpose of the project was digitalization of ART patient management including monitoring adherence and supporting national HIV program reporting.
This project improved current practices in several important ways in diseases like HIV as the whole cohort history is beneficial for the treatment. Clinicians could quickly view a patient’s treatment history and laboratory trends (such as CD4 and viral load results), which supported better clinical decision-making. The system also made it much easier to track patients who were lost to follow-up, allowing outreach teams to bring them back into care. By supporting adherence monitoring, OpenMRS helped reduce the risk of treatment interruptions and contributed to lowering drug resistance in the population. For program managers, the system generated timely reports and dashboards that strengthened monitoring of ART coverage, retention in care, and treatment outcomes. Patients benefitted from reduced waiting times and more coordinated care.
The project faced several challenges from the beginning. There is large volume of legacy paper-based treatment history to digitalize first to kick off the first deployment. That process is very resource-intensive and error-prone. Infrastructure limitations such as unreliable electricity and internet connectivity sometimes disrupted system use. Staff turnover created gaps in trained personnel, requiring repeated rounds of training. In addition, ensuring the security and confidentiality of HIV-related information remained a major concern. Sustaining the system also required ongoing technical support and funding, which was sometimes difficult in low-resource settings.
Despite these challenges, the implementation of OpenMRS for ART showed clear value in improving quality of care, supporting national HIV program goals, and ultimately contributing to better health outcomes for patients. -
2025-09-16 at 11:13 pm #50562
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThe generic method to prevent any kind of unauthorized access attack is to limit for only whitelisted IP addresses via Firewall and use VPN or office network for any kind of access. Although, it cannot prevent for physically compromised cases such as laptop stolen, it can prevent from most software vulnerabilities.
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2025-09-16 at 10:58 pm #50561
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantAlthough first step of phishing attack is generally reduced by cybersecurity awareness training, the main problem is lack of proper access control policy. Because of it, when the attacker got inside the company circle, it can access other resource regardless of its account’s role. Proper access control policies and strictly follow “Trust No One” rule for all security measures can prevent or reduce the damage of attack if it happened.
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2025-09-16 at 10:49 pm #50560
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThis kind of mistake usually happen all the time especially when migrate to a new environment or staff changes in IT department. One of the methods to prevent that kind of scenario is to use infrastructure-as-code (IaC) such as ansible. it makes the cloud environments are reproducible and consistent. Moreover, it keeps all configurations under version control (Git) with proper branching and defines clear naming conventions and templates for services, databases, and secrets to align with good practice of server maintenance. In simple terms, it keeps the user under the security practice of best industry standards with minimal efforts.
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2025-09-10 at 12:00 am #50426
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThe basic attack is non-technical methods such as social engineering (manipulating individuals into giving away confidential information), shoulder surfing (observing someone’s screen or keyboard to steal login credentials) and physical observation (collecting credentials written on a sticky note or paper or physical media).
The next one is using ready-made tools such as phishing emails, phishing websites, key loggers, brute force attack, malware and ransomware infection. This one requires some level of technical knowledge although the attacker doesn’t need to create one.
The advanced methods use technical knowledge and expertise to attack. Examples include SQL injections, exploiting software bugs and zero-days exploits.
The most dangerous method is targeted attack where a single entity (person or company) is specifically targeted for the attack. The attack is mostly advanced and specially designed to that entity. The famous 2014 celebgate is a typical example of that kind of attack.
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2025-09-08 at 9:34 pm #50400
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantWhy would you choose cloud server, rather than physical server?
I will choose cloud server because there is no big initial investment to buy a physical server, and it operates on pay per use model which allows a lower entry barrier. Moreover, we do not need to buy a huge physical server to handle maximum workload because cloud server can scale up and down easily with fluctuating workload. As the cloud service provider manages all hardware, security and maintenance of servers, our IT officer can focus on his/her essential tasks, rather than server upkeep. In summary, using a cloud server reduces upfront costs, maintenance, and IT workload while providing scalability and reliability.What kind of cloud computing service model would be most appropriate (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS)? Why?
For our hospital, a SaaS solution is the most appropriate solution. Because it has no big upfront cost, rapid deployment to the end users (patients) and minimum maintenance similar to cloud servers. We will choose PaaS and develop a custom web-based application, only if we already had the blueprint of hospital’s enterprise architecture and there is no SaaS that can fit into that architecture design. Otherwise, it will contradict the points we provide for the executive board. -
2025-09-04 at 12:46 am #50280
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the full extent of technology usage in health management. Although it is pandemic, it started as small outbreaks in my country especially, we called them first and second waves of COVID-19. At the beginning, positive case detection is very critical. At the onset, timely detection of positive cases was crucial. Laboratory confirmations were typically available by early evening, reported to the central disease control unit shortly thereafter, and followed by immediate quarantine measures by local authorities. Such rapid outbreak detection and response were enabled by digital reporting platforms and real-time information dissemination systems.
Vaccination is the most effective control method in COVID-19. In Myanmar, first batch of vaccination was conducted to healthcare workers as they are the front line personnels during the pandemic. The certification and validation of massive vaccination in short period can be only possible by modern technologies. In Myanmar, unique identifier (Master Patient Index – MPI) was planned to roll out with the nationwide vaccination campaign. Digital vaccination card, anonymous contact tracing features released by Apple and Google for their iOS and android platforms and event or location check-in using QR code were considered for more effective and efficient contact tracing. Although those plans were shattered by the country’s political instability, it evidently showed that technology became a vital tool for outbreak management of any communicable diseases.
Moreover, telemedicine and robotic delivery proved to be very useful in monitoring and treatment of complicated patients during COVID-19 pandemic. It evolves into a new culture of virtual training and virtual meetings. Those are quick and effective ways of outbreak detection, response and control as compared to conventional training and meetings.
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2025-08-31 at 11:03 pm #50263
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantWith a background in both medicine and computer science, I already possess strong foundations in clinical knowledge and technical expertise, which are essential for health informatics. However, to further improve as a professional in public health or health informatics, I need to strengthen my understanding of public health statistics, public health system design and organizational development to effectively contribute to building resilient health systems. This includes learning how to design sustainable health programs, improve workflows, and align digital health solutions with organizational goals.
Additionally, I need advanced knowledge in epidemiology and population health to interpret disease trends and support evidence-based decision-making. Beyond technical skills, I must gain knowledge of health policies, governance, and regulatory frameworks to ensure ethical and secure use of health data.
Equally important are communication and leadership skills, which are critical for stakeholder engagement and effective collaboration between technical and clinical teams. By integrating expertise in technology, public health systems, organizational development, and communication, I will enable to design and implement innovative solutions that strengthen public health systems and improve public health outcomes.
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2025-08-24 at 9:56 pm #50118
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantIf I were a director or executive of a hospital, I would plan to gradually migrate the hospital’s information system to cloud computing, but with a carefully phased and secure approach. The decision would be driven by the growing need for efficiency, and modern healthcare delivery, while carefully addressing privacy, security, and operational continuity.
Data privacy and security are major concerns in cloud migration. The plan must compliance with regulations like local healthcare data protection policies. Sensitive patient information must be encrypted both in transit and at rest, with strict access controls and audit trails. I would plan to select cloud providers with a proven track record in healthcare, excellent security certifications, and clear contractual obligations regarding data ownership and breach notification.
In terms of economics, cloud computing offers significant advantages in scalability and cost-efficiency. Cloud platforms allow IT resources to be scaled up or down on demand, avoiding the need for heavy upfront investment in physical servers. This reduces both capital expenditure and ongoing maintenance costs, while allowing the IT team to focus more on strategic initiatives rather than server upkeep.
Finally, business continuity and disaster recovery are major advantages of cloud computing. Cloud platforms typically offer automated backups, redundant storage, and geographically distributed data centers. In the event of hardware failure, natural disasters, or cyberattacks, hospital operations can continue with minimal downtime, protecting both patient safety and institutional reputation.
If the hospital is under the chain of many hospitals, cloud computing will enable integration with other hospitals and enhance collaboration and coordination for resource planning.
In conclusion, I would pursue cloud adoption as a strategic initiative to modernize the hospital’s IT infrastructure, improve accessibility, and reduce costs, while carefully mitigating risks related to privacy, security, and workflow disruption. A phased approach with strong vendor partnerships and compliance measures would ensure a successful transition that benefits both patients and hospital staff.
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2025-08-19 at 4:34 pm #50076
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantHas your computer or a computer in your workplace ever been attacked by a cyber threat? How did it happen?
One day, one of officers from another team informed me that their development server is really slow and cannot access properly. After the investigation, we found out that ransomware is running and encrypting all the files on the server causing it to slow down. It was Monday, we did have daily backup and luckily Saturday back up is unaffected. We quickly shutdown the server and restored the unaffected backup. This server is used only on weekdays; therefore no daily operation is affected.What was the cause? How was your computer or data affected?
After the incident, we did the investigation. Initial entry point of attack came from a java war file on tomcat server running on that server. Normally it didn’t open all the time. But this time one developer left it running without changing the default admin password of tomcat Manager GUI. The attacker used the default password to install and run their war file on that server. Using that war file, they managed to install a trojan as a backup plan and install worms and ransomware. They also tried to penetrate other computers in the network, but our firewall prevented it. I think that they initially plan to build botnets if they can affect other computers in the network, but they choose to use ransomware after they fail. Luckily, no real data is affected.What can you do to prevent it from happening again in the future?
After the incident, we added two instructions to SOP to use the server.
1. Nothing left open and closed properly after the testing or development.
2. Never leave the default password as it is after a new system is deployed.I hope that my experience will help the others to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Thanks -
2025-08-17 at 11:09 pm #50023
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantIf I were to build a medical app for patients and doctors, I would build a mobile app for chronic patient self-care. Chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease require continuous disease data collection. Those data can be collected via smart watches, smart glucometers, smart pressure cuffs and smart weight scale or patient can manually record if there are no smart devices for automation. The patient can use the app to record own health data locally on the app without sharing it with anyone. When the patient visits the hospital for follow up, he/she can share these data with the hospital system via Health Information Exchange (HIE) as described in last week’s discussion. These data will be very useful for chronic disease management and will greatly improve health outcomes of individual patients.
The app will be a mobile app with cross-platform native technology (Flutter) to reduce the development cost for both iOS and android platforms and better integration with platform health data management. As the data is stored locally on the devices, there is no maintenance cost for server and also reduce the risk for data privacy. The app will use HL7 FHIR standard to share, so the patient data will not be locked into one system and can share any system via the standard protocols if the data owner allows.
Please feel free to add comments on my idea.
Thank you. -
2025-08-13 at 10:58 pm #49987
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantHello everyone. I am Than Htike Aung from Myanmar and you can call me Aung. My got my Bachelor degree in Medicine and Surgery, got Master degree in Computer Science. I hope this program will help me to bridge these two different disciplines together. I am currently working as a manager in an INGO and manages digital health related projects. Therefore, this program will help me a lot to improve my knowledge in implementation of my work.
Moreover, I hope to learn invaluable experiences from all the teachers and other students as well. Looking forward to learning with all of you together. -
2025-08-12 at 11:50 pm #49976
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI would like to contribute about Health Information Exchange (HIE) as one example for this discussion.
Patients visit multiple clinics, hospitals, and labs throughout their life. Each facility keeps its own records, often in different formats and separate systems. This causes:- Delays in care because previous medical history isn’t available
- Duplicate tests and procedures
- Incomplete patient information for decision-making
- Difficulty in public health reporting and analysis
Therefore, we need HIE. It allows secure sharing of health data between different healthcare organizations and systems, following interoperability standards such as HL7 and FHIR. It acts as a central bridge that connects different healthcare platforms. If we scale up, it can becomes data repository for different programs under ministry, different ministries under same country and between different industries (e.g., between healthcare and insurance).
Hardware
Problem: Reliable internet can be big issue in some countries and some areas.
Solution: Think and build as offline first approach for data exchange with on-demand data synchronization processes.Software
Problem: Different departments will use different ISs even under the same hospital lacking no common data exchange format.
Solution: Implement standardized data exchange protocols. Seamless integration with existing platforms is important for successful implementation.Data
Problem: Inconsistent patient identifiers across different facilities causing mismatched or duplicated records.
Solution: Introduce Master Patient Index (MPI) to uniquely identify patients across all systems.Process
Problem: Procedure to request medical records can be complicated and cause delays.
Solution: Develop simple procedure and automated as much as possible including consent-based access by the patient.People
Problem: Healthcare staffs may be unfamiliar with HIE workflows and privacy concerns.
Solution: Role-based access and provide training to staffs as well as educate the patients. -
2025-10-06 at 6:42 pm #51171
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThanks for asking. ART treatment data is predictable easily. Moreover, they follow ART management guideline. Therefore, 90% of patients have similar treatment history. Based on this, expected treatment history (visit date, drug regimen, etc) are predicted by the computer using machine learning and human only needs to verify using physical paper records. It saves most the manual data entry process and need to edit if prediction was wrong. But they do need to type manually for outliner patients which is around 5-10% of total. That is how it is done.
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2025-10-06 at 9:57 am #51164
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI agree with you that failure to comply with standard will have many consequences in the future.
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2025-10-06 at 9:53 am #51163
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI agree with you that without standard, there is no interoperability and affects the patient care.
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2025-10-06 at 9:37 am #51162
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI agree with you to encourage balance and limit after-hours will help to reduce burnout. Offline option should be compulsory feature in low resource settings.
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2025-10-06 at 9:35 am #51161
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI strongly agree with you for dedicated time for documentation within working hours instead of after hours will help to reduce burnout in MM.
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2025-10-05 at 11:22 pm #51157
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThanks for asking. Yes, it is used in about 40-50% of all ART sites in MM.
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2025-10-05 at 11:21 pm #51156
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantThanks for asking. It is currently a national platform for National AIDS Program.
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2025-09-13 at 12:00 am #50507
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantHi Jenny, this is really good for your country having integrated system like ITIS for TB program. I just want to know does it also covers MDR-TB and XDR-TB cases. If it covers, is it also includes lab result reporting as it is critical for those cases. I think, if we have a study paper about ITIS, we can all learn, and other countries will also benefit from your country’s experience.
Thanks -
2025-09-08 at 12:21 am #50362
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI agree with you that hybrid approach is the most suitable option for Myanmar currently. It can get best of both worlds from cloud and local although backend implementation would be a little harder as compared to pure cloud implementation.
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2025-08-25 at 11:26 pm #50132
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI think this is a really interesting topic as Apple is known for good security measures although some major leaks from apple devices due to targeted attack. Did you find out the root cause and how they able to access Apple Pay to withdraw your money? And when did that happen as Apple usually upgrade their security over the time?
Thanks -
2025-08-24 at 10:37 pm #50119
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI think that this is excellent idea. It will also be beneficial to medical persons and also to HR. As most of the payroll is based upon these duty shifts, it can be calculated efficiently. Moreover, as it can be expanded to OPD duty, referrals and linkage with other specialities will be quick and easy. It will also be beneficial to the patients too.
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2025-08-16 at 10:25 pm #49999
Than Htike Aung
ParticipantI would like to give some information about No.2. There is a software called mSupply is used to manage all commodities under public health department and also used by some NGOs in Myanmar. You can download it from here for free and try. It only needs to pay if you want to use multiple machines. They have user manual but learning curve is a little steep. You are totally right about the other points, and I all agree with you.
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