Towards a democratic and equitable health system – Project 1: Information systems for transparency and inclusion

Infectious diseases are severely under-reported global, sometimes because of lack of capacity to diagnose and report disease cases, but also as a conscious decision to protect economic and political interests. This approach is not consistent with a good democracy and threatens especially those who are already vulnerable, poor or uneducated. Lack of understanding of when, where, how and who suffer from these conditions affect the individual as well as society’s ability to prevent the spread of infection. Mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever are no exception.

This is one of three projects within the framework of a well-established collaboration between Västerbotten County Council and the Yogyakarta City Government, who has jointly addressed the development of a more sustainable, transparent and democratic health system with dengue fever as a model. 

This project (Project 1) aims to create a more transparent health authority equipped with political will as well as tools that enables sharing of disease-related information, such as disease statistics, forecasts and decisions about preventive activities, with the citizen, but also two-way communication channels that enables the individual citizen to influence these decisions.