Applying ICT to Health Information Systems (HIS) in Low Resource Settings: Implementing DHIS2 as an Integrated Health Information Platform in Lao PDR

Abstract

In the 3 years since initial discussion on application of ICT for the Lao Health and Management Information System (HMIS) and initiation of the Lao Health Sector Reform process, DHIS2 has become the official national health information reporting platform for the HMIS including the major health programs, such as MNCH, TB, Malaria and HIV. The platform now provides a data warehouse that collects and manages routine data from all public health facilities nationwide and dashboards for dissemination and use of information. The system generates programme reports, national health system reports, statistics reports as well as other reports serving monitoring purposes for the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Government of Lao (SDGs; UHC). This article describes the process of developing the integrated HIS in Lao People Democratic Republic (PDR) from 2013 to December 2016. Overcoming challenges of human resource capacity and infrastructure disadvantages; strengthening the utilisation of health information especially for planning and decision making have been and will be crucial for the strength and sustainability of the integrated HIS on DHIS2 platform similar to other setting in developing countries.