Health information
Health information systems in humanitarian emergencies
Health information systems in emergencies
Authors:
M. Thieren
Publisher:
Bulletin of the World Health Organization : the International Journal of Public Health, 2005
The production of health information is an important function of a health system. This paper from the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation (WHO) aims to address those Health Information System (HIS) issues that are peculiar to humanitarian emergencies. These situations have in common the impossibility of the population affected being able to meet its basic needs without external assistance and protection. The author considers how HIS should be structured in emergencies and what the information needs are in emergency circumstances and how information can be collected. Data practices from other humanitarian actors are considered and the politically sensitive issue of ethical dissemination is considered.
To perform well in emergencies, HIS require integration and participation. In spite of notable efforts to coordinate data collection and dissemination practices among humanitarian agencies, it is highlighted that coordination on the ground depends on the strengths and presence of a lead agency, often WHO. Coordination also relies on the commitment of humanitarian agencies to invest resources in data production. Poorly integrated HIS generate fragmented, incomplete and often contradictory statistics, a situation that leads to a misuse of numbers with negative consequences on humanitarian interventions. As a means to avoid confusion regarding humanitarian health statistics, this paper stresses the importance of submitting statistics to a rigorous and coordinated auditing process prior to their publication. The audit trail should describe the various steps of the data production chains both technically and operationally, and indicate the limits and assumptions under which each number can be used. Finally emphasis is placed on the ethical obligation for humanitarian agencies to ensure that the necessary safeguards on data are in place to protect the confidentiality of victims and minority groups in politically sensitive contexts.
