During the upcoming events of the Saudi E-Health Conference 2012 on Sunday, March 11th, 2012 the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Arabic Health Encyclopedia will be officially launched.
The encyclopedia captured the interest of experts and interested parties both in the Arab world for being the first comprehensive Arabic health Encyclopedia available online.
This online digital Arabic Health Encyclopedia aims to serve 300 million Arabic speakers in all parts of the world with accurate and comprehensive health information through an interactive electronic portal, promoting good health through a simpler language to better serve Arab citizens in all parts of the world.
According to the organizing committee, the first session of the conference will discuss King Abdullah Arabic Health Encyclopedia and what has been accomplished through laid down plans and strategies throughout four stages.
Phase I: Preparing of the portal service, including the basic components.
Phase II: Creating a communication medium between patients, doctors and specialists.
Phase III: Promoting services and adding more health content.
Phase IV: Promoting scientific research and encouraging research centers to disseminate the results of research in the encyclopedia.
HE Dr. Bandar Al Knawy, the Chief Executive Officer, National Guard Health Affairs, President, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) and General Supervisor, Royal Clinics clarified that the Kingdom is witnessing an important phase of construction and development for both the country and the citizens in the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and HRH the Crown Prince and the Second Deputy Premier, who seek to automate information systems in both the public and private sectors to keep pace with the growth of the developed world.
Moreover, Dr. Al Knawy highlighted that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques approved King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) initiative to create a digital health encyclopedia to serve Arab users and enable them easy access to accurate health information, noting that the National Guard Health Affairs was assigned the responsibility to implement this project.
On the other hand, Dr. Majid Al Tuwaijri, Vice President, Technology and Health Informatics (KSAU-HS) Dean, College of Public Health & Health Informatics (CPHHI), the Chief Director of the Saudi Association for Health Informatics (SAHI) and project manger of the encyclopedia project said that the encyclopedia offers definitions for all the diseases, their symptoms, causes, and how to treat them, and will be accompanied with illustrated images and multimedia, as well as a comprehensive guide for doctors, hospitals, health centers, and pharmacies in the Arab world.
The encyclopedia aims to keep pace with the development and massive expansion of medical information and will work towards solving the problems that emerged as a result of the rapid technical development and the increasing overlapping health information. It hopes to deal with the credibility and accuracy health and medical information, especially for the average user who, relying on inaccurate information, might take certain measures which may have negative consequences. The encyclopedia will also target doctors, universities and all approved medical research.