“Now there is a very neat and clear prescription on a piece of paper that is attached inside their health passport for their benefit.”

The electronic information also gives health officials new tools to deal with outbreaks of disease or other health emergencies.

There are some challenges that make it difficult to use electronic medical records more widely. Dr. San Joaquin says it takes time to put information into a computer. Electricity often fails and so do computers. It also costs about $200,000 to start an electronic records program. For the hospital in Malawi, those costs were covered by donations from Europe.

The United Nations Global Strategy for Women and Children’s Health has a goal of saving the lives of 16 million mothers and children in 75 target countries by 2015. All of these target countries have been directed to include electronic records and other information technology in their national health care systems.