GHIF 2010 update 4 - Health Information Systems: Panacea or Pipedream ?
29 January 2010
This question provoked lively debate and discussion among delegates on the second morning of the Global Health Information Forum in Bangkok. In a session exploring ‘what needs to be done, by whom’ to improve health information to monitor health –related goals, speakers from The Global Fund, the Ghana Health Service, WHO, PEPFAR and the Heartfile Organization in Pakistan shared their own perspectives.
Dr. Frank Nyonator, a Director at Ghana’s Ministry of Health, described the problem of countries using data from international agencies on a daily basis to monitor Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), without knowing where the data are really coming from.
A presentation targeted at ‘jet-lagged decision-makers’ by Dr. Ties Boerma, a Director at WHO in Geneva, highlighted the paralysing mass of indicators and reporting requirements that place such a heavy burden on developing countries in their efforts to gather and collate health information. More than 1000 health indicators are currently in use across a variety of health programmes from child and adolescent health to HIV and malaria, while multiple databases on single disease issues operate in isolation.
Although some progress has been made, thanks to investments in health information systems by a number of international, national and local partners, further action must be taken to reduce and harmonize the number of indicators and survey questions, develop integrated network databases, and encourage the use of data for decision-making.