Question

To what extent can it be said that the needs of the US Bureau of the Census laid the foundation for the development of modern state public health information systems? (Public Health Informatics and Information SystemsChapter 2 – Q5)

Answer 1

The United States Census Bureau is the organization that works in order to collect the information and data regarding different aspects of the population and their living prospectus. The US Bureau of Census can be held responsible for enhancing the use of technology in form of a data collection tool. It was identified by this organization in 1980s that the TIGER system used for demographic data collection is not that utilizable and needs more innovations from technological changes.

This led to development of the Geographical Information system that can be used to merge to demographics with geographic details and also provided accessibility to the user. Using this method different developments were created to enhance the collection of information and this trend supported in health and medical care sector even. Introducing the National Center of Health Statistics, the public health data was organized and gathered using the information technology systems. The development of National Vital Statistics System, National Health Survey etc. were marked events in history of state public health data collection systems.

Thus, it was seen that the US census bureau is greatly responsible for providing a trend for using information recording technology to record and present the health statistics of population on state level.