Recorded presentation

Calle Hedberg, University of Western Cape & University of Cape Town, HISP and EQUITY Project, Modderdam Road, Bellville 7535, South Africa, 021-959-2911, chedberg@mweb.co.za

This case study describes efforts to support improvements to health services in South Africa through the development of a flexible yet comprehensive Health Information System. It describes the context of health systems reform in which these enhancements were made, key characteristics of the information system, the process undertaken by many players at different levels of the health systems, and identifies a variety of lessons learned that should prove useful for similar efforts in other countries. This study will illustrate the philosophy of the design of routine health information systems in South Africa, emphasizing a core standard of data with flexibility at each level to add both data elements and derived indicators, use of open software for processing, and open access to information across the country. The design of the DHIS has allowed incremental expansion to embrace many elements of managing the health care system. The expansion of the system to the entire country has involved a large effort in standardized training, on-site mentoring and communication with hundreds of information officers, more recently extending to the orientation of thousands of managers at all levels of the health system. The lessons of design and expansion have relevance to many other countries currently adopting the DHIS to their health systems.

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