East Africa Policy Forum: health management information systems
/ 2006

This report, published by the DFID Health Resource Centre, covers the proceedings of an East Africa Policy Forum on health management information systems (HMIS). Participants included staff from East African ministries of health, non-government organisations, and academics. Topics covered included the World Health Organization’s new Health Metrics Network; the development of a harmonised statistical database for East Africa; and demographic surveillance surveys. Challenges identified in implementing national level HMIS included: inadequate policy, coordination and harmonisation; inadequate managerial support; and a lack of evaluation or quality assurance of HMIS to find out what is or is not working.