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Success Story
USAID funds Juba Teaching Hospital Health Information Resource Center
Improving Access to Health Information
Photo: The Capacity Project
Hospital staff participate in computer
skills training at the Juba Teaching
Hospital Health Information Resource
Center
“Before the resource center
was established, there was
nothing like this, except
maybe at the University of
Juba. Most of their materials
are for academic purposes.
Most of our materials are
on medical subjects,” said
Francis Tombe, Manager of
the Juba Teaching Hospital
Health Information Resource
Center.
As a public health officer at the Southern Sudan Ministry of Health,
Abdullah Rahman needed up-to-date information to support his
work. Even in the capital city of Juba, it wasn’t easy to find what
he was looking for. “We used to look in our other books and the
libraries at the ministries, or friends’ books—but it is difficult,
because some information you cannot find there,” he said.
Reliable Internet access was another complication. “It’s important
for us to connect with other people,” Rahman said, and for “any
news from our partners, we connect by Internet.”
Opened in 2008, the USAID-supported Juba Teaching Hospital
Health Information Resource Center provides hospital staff,
medical students and Ministry of Health personnel with print and
electronic materials, library services, Internet access and computer
training. The resource center has seven computers, all of which are
connected to a wireless Internet network. The current collection of
653 items includes medical textbooks, journals, magazines, novels,
videos, DVDs and CDs.
Francis Tombe is the center’s manager and librarian. “Before the
resource center was established,” he remembers, “there was
nothing.” Even at the University of Juba, “most of their materials are
for academic purposes,” he points out, while “most of our materials
are on medical subjects.”
The center also provides free computer training to hospital staff to
enable them to access health information through various websites,
obtain updates and enter patient and hospital data into databases.
The training sessions cover an introduction to computers, Microsoft
Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint, as well as Internet and
e-mail skills to a wide range of participants selected by hospital
administrators. “So far the center has trained about 20 medical staff
in basic computer knowledge,” says Tombe.
Due to the resource center’s success, a second site is now in the
works. The state hospital in Wau, capital of the state of Western
Bahr el-Ghazal, will host a new resource center that is scheduled
to open in July. The center will be staffed by local hospital
personnel, with support and training from Francis Tombe. As in
Juba, the resource center will help reinforce the staff’s medical
training, provide a means for continuing education and professional
development and offer free Internet access.
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