The Asia Pacific region is one of the most vibrant and diverse geographical regions in the world. Therefore, growing health informatics is particularly challenging given the wide cultural, political and socio-economic diversity among countries in the region. But the diversity also presents test-bed opportunities for wide-ranging health informatics applications from telemedicine to clinical management systems and nationwide use of healthcare smart cards. Many of the projects are highly correlated with socio-economic development and national vision and commitment. Since 1994, the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI) has been instrumental in promoting health informatics awareness and development by facilitating regional and international networking. In the coming years, health informatics development in the Asia Pacific is expected to come of age given the presence of influential factors such as strong economic growth, rapid info-communication structural development and transformation of national healthcare systems and deliveries to leverage on high technology-based economies.
Asia* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Economic Development ; Informatics* ; Medical Informatics ; Telemedicine