BLN Design Meeting -- Day One: Getting governments to prioritise OpenHIEs

[Mali Kambandu]

This week, the BLN is in Accra for the fourth Design Collaborative Meeting. This will be an interactive and informative meeting where we will learn from experiences of other countries in developing or operating their health information systems and registries.

As part of the discussion, the BLN Google Group will post topics under discussion each day of the Design meeting as a way of sharing information happening in other countries, and to discuss components of health information management.’ The BLN Design meeting kicked off with a discussion on Open Health Information Exchange (OpenHIE).

 

Establishing an OpenHIE system ultimately improves the operations of the national health system, and improves health outcomes. However, developing a system for the health service is challenging for a large number of reasons. Dr Eddie Mukooyo from the Uganda Ministry of Health identified several components needed to start a national OpenHIE system: locally-grown solutions for usability and acceptability; change management; budget, particularly a budget for scale, not just for the pilot; government buy-in.

We would like to focus on one of these elements, namely that Government buy-in is linked with the will the government has to develop this new system. In turn the strength of government resolve depends on its perception of how important the issue is to the electorate. So a key question that needs to be answered is: how do we create demand among the population so as to impress upon the government to prioritize and invest in efficient electronic systems like OpenHIE?"

[Calvin Tonga]

A mon avis, c'est plus la mobilisation du personnel en service dans les postes de vaccination et aux autres niveaux de la pyramide sanitaires qui peut amener les autorités de santé à se tourner vers le système électronique d'information sanitaire. Ce personnel constitue une proportion non négligeable de l'électorat. Il conviendrait donc que les avantages, la plus-value de cette approche pour ces personnels soient présentés avec pertinence. La forte demande que cela pourrait générer au niveau opérationnel peut convaincre les autorités à se tourner résolument vers cette approche innovante. Les bénéfices pour la communauté, les masses populaires, notamment l'amélioration de la couverture vaccinale et l'interactivité entre le système de santé et les bénéficiaires des prestations donnant une réelle impression de proximité et de meilleure prise en charge sanitaire pourraient aussi servir d'arguments électoraux pour le politique. De la documentation sur cet aspect, notamment le sentiment des populations bénéficiant déjà de systèmes de rappel de vaccination pourrait être édifiante pour les décideurs.

[bgodara1980]

Here is an English version of Calvin Tonga's response:

I think that the mobilization of health personnel at vaccination centers and other levels of the health pyramid can get authorities to turn towards electronic health information systems. These personnel also form a significant part of the electorate. It is thus necessary to effectively present the added value of electronic HIS to these personnel. The strong demand that would thus be created at the operational level could convince authorities to turn towards this innovative approach. The benefits for the community, the population at large, notably in the improvement of vaccination coverage and interaction between the system and its beneficiaries gives a real impression of nearness and proximity, feelings which could become electoral arguments. Accessible documents on this point, speaking about the feelings of people already benefiting from these electronic HIS could be beneficial for decision-makers.