The Dubai Health Authority, DHA, will create an immunisation record for each individual in Dubai to improve preventative care, said a top health official on the sidelines of the ongoing Dubai Health Forum.

Amani Al Jassmi, Director of Information Technology at the DHA, said, "The initiative is known as HASANA and it will provide access to unified immunisation records at any facility and will ensure availability of relevant data. It also enables the DHA to lay the foundation for the Population Health Management System, which will be robust enough to manage and contain the spread of communicable diseases."

Al Jassmi said that the management system will have a host of features such as immunisation schedules and eligibility, immunisation planning and management, adverse effects and mass immunisation campaigns.

It will help in outbreak management prevention, monitoring, management and analysis of outbreak cases. It will also help in investigation management: identification, investigation, and management of cases and contacts. It will help in tracking clinical data related to investigations, signs and symptoms, complications, outcomes, interventions, and treatment plans.

Al Jassmi said that the system will seamlessly integrate government and private health facilities and partners and enable all of them to access the same immunisation data. It will help equip decision makers in Dubai with the necessary tools to prevent, detect, and manage the outbreak of communicable diseases in an efficient manner. It will also provide a smart application to manage and administer school mass immunisation campaigns.

She added that in addition to the immunisation record, the DHA has lined up few pertinent initiatives to enhance the healthcare experience. "We will roll out the new systems during the course of this year 2018. As a contributor to smart cities initiative, DHA is working closely with Smart Dubai office to achieve Dubai’s unified strategy, which will enable Dubai to become the innovation benchmark for smart cities seeking global sustainability and competitiveness," Al Jassmi concluded.