Challenge
At the Directorate-General of Health (DGS), there was an endless amount of data scattered across its many services and divisions. With the aim of sharing this information with the general public, DGS’s Information and Analysis Services Directorate needed a system that would make it possible to group, relate, and publish—effectively and in an engaging way—a large volume of data directly or indirectly related to the state of health in Portugal.
Solution
The project to make the reality behind these figures known came with a sense of urgency. The solution developed was the “Seasonal Health” platform, which brings together a set of processes for organising and systematising information, enabling DGS staff themselves to edit and publish the large volume of data they have on an online platform, accessible to everyone.
The platform was organised into two modules. The first, “Winter and Health”, provides weekly information on the indicators “temperatures (minimum and maximum)”, influenza activity (incidence rate of influenza-like illness), influenza virus testing, consultations for influenza-like illness, and overall mortality. The second module, “Summer and Health”, provides weekly and daily data on temperatures and the national Ícaro index, along with mortality, unscheduled consultations, and hospital emergency consultations (with weekly data).
Benefits
In a way, the platform can be seen as a national snapshot of a set of highly relevant indicators in the area of public health, and beyond, fulfilling the role of informing citizens through easy-to-read figures about the country’s health status. Supported by the Masterlink platform, DGS teams are now able to systematise and publish useful information for the country quickly and autonomously.
