Free and open source software (FOSS) offers tremendous advantages to the health sector of developing countries. The session "FOSS in healthcare" at InWEnt's 1st Interdisciplinary Alumni Conference Southeast Asia in Hanoi in July 2010 discussed these advantages. The session also offered hands-on opportunities to test drive actual FOSS electronic health records and eHealth applications in Southeast Asia. It drew on experiences by the "International Open Source Network" (IOSN) in ASEAN as a main partner in the InWEnt programme "it@foss - Promoting Free and Open Source Software in Southeast Asia" (2005-2009). Based on this, the session explored opportunities for further network building and capacity building in ASEAN in the area of "FOSS in healthcare" to strenghten open health systems as part of a regional integration framework in Southeast Asia. For the outcomes of the session, see the wiki at http://www.iosnasean.net/fossforhealth/

The issue of FOSS in public healthcare was also featured in InWEnts Alumni newsletter in four languages with interviews and background material:

Link to Newsletter

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