What are your experiences in linking immunization registries to LMIS, CRVS,EHR, HMIS & mHealth

[Mbye Njie]

INTRODUCTION: Immunization registries, also known as Immunization information systems, collect vaccination data about all persons within a geographical area, by consolidating records from multiple sources. They serve several purposes, and aid in increasing and sustaining high immunization coverage: consolidating vaccination records of children and adults from multiple providers, forecasting next doses, indicating vaccination schedules to support generating reminders and recall vaccination notices, and providing official vaccination forms and vaccination coverage assessments.

 

They are thus directly linked to the health status of individuals and populations, help in planning and evaluating resource allocation, guide policy formulation, aid in logistics, and support and record service delivery.

 

As such, immunization registries are directly linked to the country’s overall health information system, and require two-way communication with these latter. The development and deployment of immunization registries must therefore take into account interoperability with other parts of the overall health information system such as: logistics management information systems (LMIS), civil registries and vital statistics (CRVS), those documenting service delivery (notably, mHealth solutions deployed on the field), health management information systems (HMIS) and patient electronic health records (EHR). This interoperability is a significant step in the integration of the immunization registries into the national health information system.

 

The discussion on this interoperability and integration is extremely relevant in the fragmented health information landscape today. 

 

Each country stands to gain by sharing their problems and solutions in this field. We would this like to start this discussion, by inviting you to share with us any experience you’ve had in linking immunization registries to LMIS, CRVS, EHR, HMIS and mHealth.

[duncan....@vaxtrac.com]

Greetings Mr. Njie,

Our organization VaxTrac does have some experience in this area.  We have implemented a mobile immunization registry in both the rural and populous parts of Benin and Nepal.  Our system is a tablet based Android application with additional biometric features that are used by clinic health workers.  This includes core scheduling logic for all of the recommended vaccinations and boosters from childbirth.  We've created customizable reports including generating reminders for upcoming visits as well as targeting defaulters or drop outs.  All of this data is stored offline on the device until a connection becomes present and it can be sent to a central server.

We're currently using a CommCareHQ server to manage synchronization of the data from the device to the cloud.  CommCare provides an API to forward/export data so we have setup a MoTech server to provide integration with the DHIS2 HMIS.  MoTech provides the ability to perform tasks on the streaming data such as sending an SMS prior to an appointment date.  MoTech pushes all of our immunization data to a national DHIS2 platform, where it is then aggregated and visualized in a variety of ways for different levels of health officials and administrators.  We're hoping the immunization data can be leveraged alongside stock tracking, prenatal care, and population statistics to ultimately make better informed decisions.

We'd be happy to discuss further if you have any other questions and would be interested in hearing your experiences as well.  Please don't hesitate to reach out to myself or any of my colleagues.

On a personal note I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Gambia from 2011-2013 teaching computer engineering at GTTI.  It's wonderful to hear about new health technology initiatives happening in the Gambia and West Africa!

Jerejeff waay,

Duncan Spencer

Senior Software Engineer

VaxTrac   

[bgodara1980]

Dear colleagues,

I recently came across a rather interesting article in this regard: how Taiwan is linking its immunization information systems to other parts of the health information system and, more widely still, to population information systems. This 2014 article, entitled "Innovative applications of immunisation registration information systems: example of improved measles control in Taiwan" is freely accessible at: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20994

I think it merits a read.