Health information
Bulletin of the World Health Organization - Special Theme: health information systems
Health information systems necessary for evidence-based policymaking in developing countries
Authors:
S. Stansfield; K. M. McGrail; C. Black; T. Williams
Publisher:
Bulletin of the World Health Organization : the International Journal of Public Health, 2005
Over the past few years, there is growing recognition of the need for more investments in health information systems. This special theme Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that whereas such systems may seem expensive for developing countries, the costs are offset by the ensuing efficiencies. The authors argue that poor countries should shift to policymaking that is evidence-based by developing a health information system that adapts the existing data situation.
Additionally, the authors discuss the role of data in poverty reduction and addressing inequities in health, by highlighting the need for efforts aimed at strengthening health information systems in low- and middle-income countries to forge links with data systems in other sectors. To illustrate this, the authors describe how they examined nine systems that provide a range of health and other information in the United Republic of Tanzania.
In the context of antiretroviral therapy scaling up in Africa, the authors note that this has concomitantly resulted in a dramatic rise in data reporting requirements. As a result of this, the authors note that health workers often produce poor quality data due to the onerous, conflicting demands for information imposed on them from senior programme managers. To ameliorate this situation, the authors look at how an essential dataset can be developed and they key lessons that have been learnt through this process.
