Appropriate Medical Technologies for Developing Countries: Application to Cardiovascular Disorders

One of the major problems in healthcare systems throughout the world, and especially in developing countries, is the ability to identify appropriate technologies for a given healthcare provider. Not only are data scarce on the subject, but also the factors contributing to the selection process. For instance, the healthcare level places certain constraints such as the cost of acquisition and the needs of the community. The risk of not using the technology places certain constraints on the features required in that technology when certain disorders are to be considered. In this paper, we create a mapping system between various health disorders and their corresponding appropriate technologies to minimize technology underutilization. Towards this end, a database management system is developed to establish relationships between different entities with a friendly interface to allow the system to grow as medical equipment manufacturers introduce more technical features in their products.