Presented by Absisalan Noor, KEMRI-University of Oxford-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, as part of a symposium organized by MEASURE Evaluation and MEASURE DHS at the 6th MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference.

1. The status of information
systems for health in Africa
Dr Abdisalan M Noor
KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme
Symposium 38, 6th MIM conference, Durban
2013

2. Civil registration and vital statistics
systems
Health management and information
systems

3. 1.
Lack of political commitment
2.
Outdated laws and procedures
3.
Organizational and infrastructural problems
4.
Lack of understanding the multidisciplinary nature of civil registration systems
5.
Lack of comprehensive national action plans
6.
Poor administrative structure
7.
Poor national standards and guidelines
8.
Poor M&E frameworks
9.
Huge registration backlog
10. Focus on indirect demographic methods
11. Low human and technological capacity

5. CRVS targets
2/3 of the member States with current birth and
death registration completeness level below 20%
reach over 40% by the end of the plan period.
2/3 of the member States with current marriage
and divorce registration completeness level below
20% reach over 40% by the end of the plan period.
2/3 of the member States with current birth and
death vital statistics completeness level below
20% reach over 40% by the end of the plan period.

6. 2/3 of the member States with current marriage and
divorce vital statistics completeness level below 20%
reach over 40% by the end of the plan period.
Lag of release of annual vital statistics reports reduced
to below six months in those member States currently
producing such reports by the end of the plan period.
Number of children with birth certificates registered on
current basis increased by 50% in 2/3 of the member
States by the end of the plan period.

10. Health information systems

11. 36/45 malaria endemic countries in Africa DO NOT
have sufficient health information data to assess
trends!
Source: World Malaria Report 2012

12. Bottlenecks in routine surveillance
Source: World Malaria Report 2012

14. Comprehensive assessment of the status and
bottlenecks of health information systems in Africa
Develop cross-cutting possible solutions including public
and private sector partnership
Ensure country ownership and leadership to develop
the practice of collecting and utilizing quality
information
Strengthening human capacity
Harness technology

15. DHIS 2?
Use of mHealth approaches? e.g. SMS for life
Performance related payment? e.g. Rwanda
HMIS condition for private practice licensing?
Training and hiring of health information
officers?