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Abstract
Background: Tanzania has adopted an open-source Health Management Information System (HMIS) to help understand health patterns, make informed decisions, and take action to improve the quality of health services through effective planning. However, generating and utilizing health data in most facilities presents significant challenges. This study examined factors influencing the use of HMIS data for health facility planning in Kigoma Ujiji Municipal and Kigoma District Councils. Methods: This cross-sectional explanatory study was conducted using a qualitative approach in two districts of the Kigoma region—Kigoma and Ujiji district councils. Participants included members of the Council Health Management Teams and staff from six healthcare facilities. The study employed the PRISM framework to explore how technical, organizational, and behavioral factors influence the use of data in health facility planning. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Thematic analysis, supported by NVivo software, was applied to manage and analyze the data. Results: A total of 32 participants were involved in this study. Most reported that health facilities had standard indicators, data collection forms, and established data analysis and reporting procedures, with clear HMIS roles and responsibilities. However, challenges such as poor data quality, insufficient IT resources, inadequate staff training, limited financial support, and unsupportive organizational culture were reported to affect the effective use of data in planning. Conclusions: Poor data quality, inadequate training, inadequate HMIS staff, and poor information culture, motivation, attitudes, and values limited data use. This study calls for health system interventions to address staffing, training, information culture, data quality, and individual attitudes and behaviors to improve the use of data in health facility planning and decision-making.
Published Version
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