Sijilli: A Collaborative Project to Establish a Mobile Electronic Health Record System for Refugees in Low-Resource Settings

This session will introduce the attendees to the innovative low-resource design of the cloud-based, mobile, and universally accessible Electronic Health Record for refugees: Sijilli. The health information of Sijilli is originally collected on a data entry-friendly software. The health data includes the refugee’s medical conditions, allergies, history of surgeries, medication use, as well as PHQ-9 depression screening results. Once data collection is completed, a password-protected health record file is generated on a flash drive, with the password being generated exclusively and blindly to the Sijilli holder. An encrypted de-identified version of the generated health record is in parallel uploaded to the Sijilli cloud-based server. The flash drive, handed in to the refugee, contains a password-protected pdf version of the health record that can be used in any health facility worldwide. The cloud-based version of the health record of any Sijilli holder can be accessed globally by either patients or the health providers through the Sijilli website following a two-step identity verification process. The session will offer the attendees insights into opportunities and challenges of designing such cloud-based solutions for vulnerable populations as refugees. It will also shed light on the importance of developing a deep understanding of the context and the target population's needs for enhanced contextualization and alignment of the presented solution. Applicability in low-resource settings, conflict areas, and refugee-hosting countries will be underlined. Special emphasis will be placed on key aspects of digital health solutions including data security, governance, and interoperability. The session will also highlight the exemplary partnership employed between the academic, private, and non-governmental sectors, reflecting a collaborative model of partnerships for health. The session will be concluded with the alignment of the presented digital health solution with different sustainable development goals.