PASAY CITY, Metro Manila – In the recently concluded 5^th eHealth Summit led by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), Dr. Peter San Diego, Jr., a cardiologist from the Philippine Heart Center, talks about the implications of health data research and how the issue of privacy apply to data analytics.

Health Data Analytics is the method of processing extensive health data (e.g. medical records, social demographics, etc.) into information vital in explaining or predicting the health state in a certain area. In his talk, Dr. San Diego highlighted that through processing big data, policymakers will have readily-available health information to help in health decision-making. This research method is also considered to be efficient as it only requires a computing software that will process the available data.

Dr. San Diego also mentioned about the Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPnet), an online health policy databank run by the World Health Organization (WHO) which uses research evidence as bases of health policies, some of which obtained through big data processing. While there still is no database for research-based policies in the Philippines, the Department of Health has partnered with the Department of Science and Technology in developing the Philippine Health Information Exchange as a start. Once live, it will serve as nationwide platform for storing and sharing data that across government information systems.

However, big data processing has its challenges. Processing a vast amount of data could lead to inevitable inconsistencies and redundancies in the system.  Data privacy, however, was emphasized as an issue largely linked to health data analytics. Dr. San Diego highlighted the importance of consent in getting data, particularly personal information. Personal health data can only be given without consent when it is in the case of national emergencies and if the indexed person cannot give his consent, as in the state of coma, among others.

During the open forum Dr. Jacinto Blas V. Mantaring of the UP Manila Research Ethics Board reiterated on the importance of informed consent, especially if it also concerns not only the individual’s information but also that of his family. “It is the responsibility of the researcher to make the participant aware of such a condition so that the participant can discuss this with his family,” he stated.

There is an ongoing online discussion on the rules of privacy in health research. Prof. Peter A. Sy, Bioethics expert of the University of Philippines – Diliman, invited everyone to participate and give their thoughts, especially on unconventional ways of obtaining personal information (e.g. social media, raffle entries, social experiments, etc.).

The 5^th eHealth Summit with the theme “eHealth Philippines: Big Data, Big on Privacy” was held last 3 June 2016 at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City.