Abstract
BackgroundManagement of health data and its use for informed-decision making is a challenging health sector aspect in developing countries. Monitoring and evaluation of health interventions for meeting health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Cameroon Health Sector Strategy (HSS) targets is facilitated through evidence-based decision-making and public health action. Thus, a routine health information system (RHIS) producing quality data is imperative. The objective of this study was to assess the RHIS in the health facilities (HFs) in Yaoundé in order to identify gaps and weaknesses and to propose measures for strengthening.MethodsA health facility-based cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the six health districts (HDs) of Yaoundé; followed by a qualitative aspect consisting of in-depth interviews of key informants at the Regional Health Office. HFs were selected using a stratified sampling method with probability proportional to the size of each HD. Data were collected (one respondent per HF) using the World Health Organization and MEASURE Evaluation RHIS rapid assessment tool. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel 2013 and analyzed with IBM-SPSS version 20.ResultsA total of 111 HFs were selected for the study. Respondents aged 24–60 years with an average of 38.3 ± 9.3 years; 58 (52.3%) male and 53(47.7%) female. Heads of HFs and persons in charge of statistics/data management were most represented with 45.0% and 21.6% respectively. All the twelve subdomains of the RHIS were adequately functioning at between 7 and 30%. These included Human Resources (7%), Data Analysis (10%), Information and Communication Technology (11%), Standards and System Design (15%), Policies and Planning (15%), Information Dissemination (16%), Data Demand and Use (16%), Management (18%), Data Needs (18%), Data Quality Assurance (20%), Collection and Management of Individual Client Data (26%), Collection, Management, and Reporting of Aggregated Facility Data (30%).ConclusionsThe level of functioning of subdomains of the RHIS in Yaoundé was low; thus, immediate and district-specific strengthening actions should be implemented if health-related SDGs and HSS targets are to be met. A nation-wide assessment should be carried out in order to understand the determinants of these poor performances and to strengthen the RHIS.
Highlights
Management of health data and its use for informed-decision making is a challenging health sector aspect in developing countries
Quality health care delivery is a product of informed decision making which in turn is based on proper health information management [1]
Characteristics of health facilities There were 16 (14.4%) public and 95 (85.6%) private health facility (HF). These HFs were distributed per district as follows: Biyem-Assi (21, 18.9%), Cité-Verte (6, 5.4%), Djoungolo (20, 18.0%), Efoulan (18, 16.2), Nkolbisson (9, 8.1%), and Nkolndongo (9, 8.1%)
Summary
Management of health data and its use for informed-decision making is a challenging health sector aspect in developing countries. Many health information management sub-systems that function in a non-integrated and unstandardized manner characterise the routine health information system (RHIS) These sub-systems [4] include Community-based Health Information Systems (CBHIS), Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), Electronic Health Management Information Systems (eHMIS), Financial Management Information System (FMIS), Human Resource Information System (HRIS), Logistics Management Information Systems (LMIS), and Surveillance Systems (SS). RHIS includes data collected at regular intervals at public, private, and community-level health facilities and institutions and health programs. The sources of these data generally include individual health records, records of services delivered, and records of health resources
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