Summary
Objectives : One Health considers human, animal and environment health as a continuum. The COVID-19
pandemic started with the leap of a virus from animals to humans. Integrated management
systems (IMS) should provide a coherent management framework, to meet reporting requirements
and support care delivery. We report IMS deployment during, and retention post the
COVID-19 pandemic, and exemplar One Health use cases.
Methods : Six volunteer members of the International Medical Association’s (IMIA) Primary
Care Working Group provided data about any IMS and One Health use to support the COVID-19
pandemic initiatives. We explored how IMS were: (1) Integrated with organisational
strategy; (2) Utilised standardised processes, and (3) Met reporting requirements,
including public health. Selected contributors provided Unified Modelling Language
(UML) use case diagram for a One Health exemplar.
Results : There was weak evidence of synergy between IMS and health system strategy to the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, there were rapid pragmatic responses to COVID-19, not
citing IMS. All health systems implemented IMS to link COVID test results, vaccine
uptake and outcomes, particularly mortality and to provide patients access to test
results and vaccination certification. Neither proportion of gross domestic product
alone, nor vaccine uptake determined outcome. One Health exemplars demonstrated that
animal, human and environmental specialists could collaborate.
Conclusions : IMS use improved the pandemic response. However, IMS use was pragmatic rather than
utilising an international standard, with some of their benefits lost post-pandemic.
Health systems should incorporate IMS that enables One Health approaches as part of
their post COVID-19 pandemic preparedness.
Keywords Primary care - Electronic Health Records - Integrated Advanced Information Management
Systems - One Health - Public Health