Development of effective public health information systems requires understanding of public health informatics (PHI), the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning. PHI is well-known from other informatics specialties by its focus on deterrence in populations, use of a wide range of interventions to achieve its goals, and the constraints of functioning in a governmental context. The current need for PHI arises from dramatic improvements in information technology, new pressures on the public health system, and changes in medical care delivery. Application of PHI principles provides unprecedented opportunities to build healthier communities. The use of public health informatics is essential in supporting public health practices and research with information technology. The use of information technology in public health also includes the issue of tobacco use, design for natural disaster, protecting food supply and the ID and prevention or containment of epidemics. Most importantly computers can create “what-if scenarios or simulations” of what would happen to an infectious disease if something else happened. A typical example of potential cured as a result of HIT is if air travel increase or decrease, if the temperature rose or fell or if there was an adequate supply of antiviral drugs, computer can be able to predict potential outcomes of “what if.”
Today’s computer systems are faster and cheaper than ever before, and prices are continuing to decrease rapidly. In fact, computer hardware is no longer the major cost it once was in information system development projects. More importantly, the internet has emerged as both a universal communications medium and the source of universal graphical user interface—the World Wide Web—accessed with Internet browser software.
