Cuba's Salgen: a provincial informatics network for genetic services to pregnant women and newborns.

The Sancti Spíritus Provincial Medical Genetics Network has been using the Salgen IT platform since 2009 for health care, administrative and research activities concerning pregnant mothers and newborns. The network uses the national Infomed backbone to provide real-time connection between community-based polyclinics in primary health care and the Provincial Medical Genetics Reference Center. The platform has records for 23,025 pregnant women and sequential clinical data on genetic risk assessment in early pregnancy, first trimester ultrasound, sickle cell anemia screening, alpha-fetoprotein levels, cytogenetic antenatal diagnosis, second trimester ultrasound, delivery and newborn characteristics, neonatal metabolic screening, and infant clinical assessment. The system makes health care results immediately available and provides health alerts to enable timely preventive care for pregnant women. It also provides guidelines for processes and practices, and streamlines administrative and monitoring activities through statistical reports. The database generates indicators for assessing fetal growth and applies international standards for antenatal ultrasound quality control. Salgen provides a new source of information for medical research and knowledge management, and its use in this case fulfills Cuba's criteria for an integrated health services network.