New frontiers for health information systems using Epi Info in developing countries: Structured application framework for Epi Info (SAFE)

BackgroundFor more than two decades, Epi Info software has been used to meet the data management, analysis, and mapping needs of public health professionals in more than 181 countries and 13 languages. Until now, most Epi Info systems have been relatively simple, mainly because of a lack of detailed and structured guidance for developing complex systems.Objective and resultsWe created the structured application framework for Epi Info (SAFE), which is a set of guidelines that allows developers to create both simple and complex information systems using accepted good programming practices. This has resulted in application code blocks that are re-useable and easy to maintain, modify, and enhance. The flexibility of SAFE allows various aggregate and case-based application modules to be rapidly created, combined, and updated to create health information systems or sub-systems enabling continuous, incremental enhancement as national and local capacity increases.ConclusionsSAFE and Epi Info are both cost-free and have low system requirements—characteristics that render this framework and software beneficial for developing countries.