On behalf of the OpenMRS community, the Canadian International Development Research Centre and the Fogarty International Centre, National Institutes of Health, USA, we invite you to the First OpenMRS User Group and Mobile Data Collection Systems Development Meeting, from 24-28 July 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The meeting will bring together developers, implementers and users of OpenMRS to discuss current and future applications of the OpenMRS application framework.  The meeting will also be a great opportunity to share experiences of implementing OpenMRS and participate in the design of future applications of the technology and to find out how to leverage these developments in practice.

The first day of the meeting will include a range of invited presentations by key stakeholders, the core OpenMRS international development team and selected implementers of new applications and extensions to the OpenMRS technology, including proposals for a desktop version of OpenMRS (OpenMRS-Lite) as well as web and mobile data collection applications (PDAs and mobile phones).  The next three days will consist of technology discussions and proposals, presentations of user experiences implementing OpenMRS in developing country settings and both a developer and user track.  In the user track, users will learn to implement key OpenMRS technologies and will come away with a working version of OpenMRS implementing a form of their choice (bring your own or use the one provided).  In the developer track, developers will meet and discuss current development issues and designs for new technologies.

If you would like to present an OpenMRS implementation, please contact  the meeting organizer, Dr Chris Seebregts (chris.seebregts@mrc.ac.za)

Key Topics to be Covered Include:

• Implementation of OpenMRS and HIV patient and treatment management systems in African developing countries
• Latest developments in the OpenMRS application framework and a desktop version of OpenMRS (OpenMRS-Lite)
• Design of web and mobile data collection applications using OpenMRS and open source form editors OpenMRS technology training (concept dictionary development, installation and deployment, forms development etc.

Who should attend?

• Implementers and users of OpenMRS and electronic medical record systems
• Developers and users of mobile health data collection applications
• Open source developers

All users and developers of health data collection applications are encouraged to attend this important opportunity and be part of a growing community developing free and open source applications for HIV patient and treatment management and health data collection.

Contact Details
Ms Anthea van Blerk
Biomedical Informatics Research Division, MRC, Cape Town, South    Africa
E-mail: anthea.van.blerk@mrc.ac.za; Tel: +27 21 938 0851