MyGNUHealth and the GNU Health ecosystem. The importance of Libre Software in the public health sector
2021-11-13, 16:00–16:30, Room 1

I will focus on the importance of Open Science, Libre Software and hardware in the healthcare system to deliver privacy, universality and equity in health, as well as the way to build a robust, sustainable model in the public health system.

In this talk I will address the main components of the GNU Health ecosystem: the Hospital Management, Laboratory, bioinformatics, Personal Health manager, GNU Health for embedded systems and the GNU Health Federation network.

I will dedicate a whole chapter to MyGNUHealth, the Personal Health Record component, that was released this June 2021. MyGNUHealth is both a activity tracker and a health diary, covering the main health domain (physical, psychological and social). MyGNUHealth is a privacy oriented application, where the user takes control of their health and health related information. They can keep it private, and they can also share specific events and records with their health professional, if they choose to do so.

MyGNUHealth, as part of the GNU Health Federation, can interact in real-time with other of the GNU Health components, accessing and updating the information, from anywhere an at anytime. MyGNUHealth is a convergent application, available for both desktops and mobile devices, such as the PinePhone, and packages are already available in different distros, such as openSUSE, AlpineLinux, Arch and KDE Neon.


GNU Health is the Libre digital health ecosystem. It provides the necessary tools to help individuals, health professionals, researchers, health institutions and governments to improve the health and well being of the person and the population. GNU Health has a strong focus on Social Medicine and Public Health. It covers from the socioeconomic determinants of health and disease to areas in bio-informatics, medical genetics and precision medicine.

In this talk I will address the main components of the GNU Health ecosystem, those are is, the Hospital Management, Laboratory, bioinformatics, GNU Health for embedded systems and the GNU Health Federation network.

I will focus on the importance of Open Science, Libre Software and hardware in the healthcare system to deliver privacy, universality and equity in health, as well as the way to build a robust, sustainable model in the public health system. Finally, I will dedicate a whole chapter to MyGNUHealth, the Personal Health Record component, that was released this June 2021. MyGNUHealth is both a activity tracker and a health diary, covering the main health domain (physical, psychological and social). MyGNUHealth is a privacy oriented application, where the user takes control of their health and health related information. They can keep it private, and they can also share specific events and records with their health professional, if they choose to do so.

MyGNUHealth, as part of the GNU Health Federation, can interact in real-time with other of the GNU Health components, accessing and updating the information, from anywhere an at anytime. MyGNUHealth is a convergent application, available for both desktops and mobile devices, such as the PinePhone, and packages are already available in different distros, such as openSUSE, AlpineLinux, Arch and KDE Neon.

Finally, I will talk about the GNU Health community, our software and hardware partners, academic and research institutions, and implementations of the GNU Health components around the world.

See also: MyGNUHealth and the GNU Health ecosystem. The importance of Free Software in the public health sector

Luis Falcón, MD, MSc, holds a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the California State University (USA) and in Medicine from IUCS, Buenos Aires (Argentina). He holds a Master's degree in Genomics and Medical Genetics by the University of Granada (Spain). Dr Falcon is a social and animal rights activist. He is the founder of GNU Solidario, a nonprofit humanitarian organization focused on Social Medicine. Dr. Falcon is the author of GNU Health, the award winning Free/Libre Health and Hospital Information System. He is a guest speaker at international conferences about Free Software, eHealth and Social Medicine.