The African Health Observatory and national health observatories as platforms for strengthening health information systems in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Health information systems represent a key component of national health systems. However, the capabilities for leveraging information for improved health are limited and unevenly distributed in the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. Improving such capabilities has been identified as a key priority for the success of reforms of national health systems through primary healthcare and for addressing social determinants of health. Ministries of health and their partners have recognised the importance of evidence in shaping policymaking and decision-making in the Region and have been trying to improve their health information and research systems for some time. The recommendations of both the 2008 Ouagadougou and Algiers Declarations to establish an African Health Observatory (AHO) are based on this recognition. The idea of a ‘health observatory’ as a comprehensive one-stop shop for good-quality and reliable information on human health and institutions of care has gained growing global popularity since the mid-1970s. Since then, numerous health observatories have been established throughout the world; for example, a network of 12 public health observatories was set up by the UK Department of Health to provide knowledge, information and surveillance in public health. The declared focus is on ‘turning information and data into meaningful health intelligence’ and the UK network has been developing successfully using a similar model to that adopted by AHO. Apart from AHO, a Global Health Observatory has been functioning in WHO headquarters since 2010, andmost of theWHO regional offices also have established observatories. This report describes AHO and how it could be useful, working with National Health Observatories (NHO), to address the issues and challenges of strengthening national health information systems. In addition, the report proposes a number of actions that countries should consider taking to use NHOs to improve national health systems.