Mozambique

Health information system

Imprimer

Situation analysis

The system for health information in Mozambique was created in 1976. In the meantime, the system has been trying to accompany the developments of a system of information at regional and global level. However, due to limitations this is still far from being considered a good system.

In 1979, the Ministry of Health (MoH) established a mechanism of data collection at every health facility of the national health system, based on annual inquiry records that led to the first national panorama of the country's situation. In 1985, a system of notification of communicable diseases through sentinel sites was introduced. In 1997, a system of obligatory notification was introduced for a list of communicable diseases on a weekly basis for every health facility.

mercypullsfile
WHO/Evelyn Hockstein

The Health Information System (HIS) that was under the Planning and Cooperation department of the MoH, is now placed at the National Health Institute where the Disease Surveillance Unit will be operating within the Health Information Department.

Three population censuses have already been accomplished in the country. The first in 1980, the second in 1997 and the third in 2007 . Meanwhile socio-demographic data are routinely collected, and some data can be found in the data base of the Social, Demographic and Economical Statistics of Mozambique (ESDEM). The ESDEM is used to monitor the country development plans such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PARPA) and the Millennium Development Goals.

Different surveys are regularly conducted:

In the interval between the DHSs, the Ministry of Health is also doing some studies on morbidity to overcome the lack of information.

In 2001, the MoH conducted a study on the main causes of death in Maputo, Beira Chimoio and Nampula cities, with WHO support.

In 1989-90, the registration and data collection processes were updated, and guidelines and tools on Health Information Systems for district and provincial levels were produced.

In 2003, the Government of Mozambique, based on the Health Sector Strategic Plan (PESS), approved the "Health Information System Development Programme". In 2007, the National Institute of Statistics in collaboration with the MoH and the Civil Registration Office planned a study on the causes of death in the country

Challenges

  • Partners interested on funding the HIS;
  • Institutional capacity of the HIS management;
  • Capacities to formulate clear policies, objectives and strategies corresponding to the real needs, and based on evidence from the HIS reports;
  • Data reliability and their use at local level, the flow and speed at which information circulates from the health care facilities to the central level.

Achievements

  • In 2006, the restructuring plan and reorientation of the Health Information System (Road Map for HIS) was created and approved, in order to strengthen the HIS and integrating the different existing subsystems into one only;
  • Service Availability Mapping (SAM) was conducted in order to provide geographic information mapping of health facilities services and determinants;
  • WHO initiated the process and is supporting MoH in developing the national electronic-health system;
  • The Ministry of Health created a commission for the elaboration of a national list of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) simplified to be used at the different levels of the health sector;
  • A consultation was done to assess the capacity of national health system to integrate open source software as a way to improve information flow.

Next steps

  • To establish a human resources development strategy for health informatics. The objective is to build national competences on health informatics through short, medium and long-term efforts.
  • Improve capacity of the HIS to inform decision makers and partners, integrating the epidemic surveillance with existing subsystem components.
  • Conclusion of the process of integration subsystems using information code.
  • Capacity building of staff on ICD 10.