IICD supported project: District Health Management Information Systems (D-HMIS) - Tanzania

Countries: Tanzania [TZ]
Sectors: health

Summary

The implementation of a District Health Management Information System (HMIS) aims to improve the ability to collect, store and analyse accurate health data, increase data accuracy and effectiveness of intervention, increase accountability, and improve tracking of health trends in the district. Information on patient registrations, diagnoses, treatments, lab tests, billing and pharmacy records are being digitalised. The HMIS is rolled out in eight hospitals and four offices of the City Medical Officer and the Faith Based Organisations. The project includes ICT training and change management both at facility and district level.

Update

Updated: 2008-05-05

The project started in February 2006. After a good start it was grounded by a severe and long lasting shortage of electricity. A small emergency project was realized to have inverters installed. By the end of 2006/early 2007 it picked up again, but investments in awareness raising among councillors and some of the training activities had to be repeated. In July 2007 a large two days awareness session was realized with councillors and municipal staff, which was successful. In most hospitals the HMIS is operational and attention now gradually shifts to maintenance/trouble shooting of equipment and data integration and analysis at municipal level.

Introduction

The ability to collect, analyse and utilize reliable data are vital for health workers to provide cost efficient and effective health care to the population. Also, timely and accurate information is crucial for policy makers to be able to make well-informed decisions to improve national health care.

Unfortunately, the current situation is far from ideal. Data collected using paper and pencil is prone to transcription errors, loss and damage and takes time to enter into databases, which is another process prone to human error. The quality of health services delivery is constrained by the poor quality and high costs of existing communications services and the lack of access to conventional medical and public health information resources, such as journals. Health institutions have poor access to accurate and timely information and data rarely reach policy makers in time for informed decision making.

Objectives

The broad objective of the project is to have ICT as a tool for HMIS to enable the City Medical Officer (CMO), the African Inland Church Tanzania (AICT), Evangelical Lutheran Church Tanzania (ELCT) and Roman Catholic Church (RC) as organizations and their partners in Mwanza city to improve its effectiveness and quality of work, managing the key processes efficiently to a level of transforming organization at resources to its highest utility and advantage of delivering Health Services.
The specific objectives in order to achieve the broad objective are:

• Implementation of a District Health Management Information System
• Training of HMIS users
• Awareness raising for other stakeholders and related government personnel
• Capacity building of the project organizations’ headquarters
• Installation of Internet Connectivity at AICT, ELCT, RC and CMO.
• Exchange and improved performance at health facility and district level.

The desired future data stream that allows a better health reporting and planning is depicted below:

Development Impacts

The church health institutions will benefit directly as the D-HMIS will facilitate the daily processes. Patients will benefit from the project through faster and better health service delivery, policy makers and the Tanzanian nation will benefit as more accurate information will be made available in time for informed decision making.

Lessons learned

It is important to assure power supply backup for any HMIS.

The rapid turn over of staff requires frequent retraining. This ‘emptying’ of faith based health institutions due to major salary differences with the public sector is a serious threat to the project.

Project Owner : African Inland Church in Tanzania (AICT), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), Roman Catholic Church (RCC), CMO, Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC).