Tag: DHIS2
Lessons from the frontlines of the digital revolution: The BID Learning Network mentors countries invested in digital solutions
Jan 23, 2020
Since 2014, the BID Learning Network (BLN) has brought together digital health experts and immunization program managers from across sub-Saharan Africa to share experiences about implementing electronic immunization registries (EIRs), data management systems, change management approaches, and data use policies and practices. The BLN has since expanded its scope to provide a set of holistic services and mentorship on the design, implementation, and scale-up of digital and data solutions to address routine data challenges. For the past few years, the BLN has been mentoring a range of countries interested in adopting digital and data solutions of their own.
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Tanzania makes history as first facilities retire paper immunization registers
Apr 25, 2019
Aziz Seif Ahmed works as a reproductive and child health nurse in Mikanjuni health center, one of the busiest clinics in Tanga municipal council, vaccinating about 370 children a month. Each month, Aziza used to spend more than 10 hours compiling and completing monthly immunization reports, and more or less the same number of hours compiling and completing child health monthly summary reports in the HMIS Book 7 to report to DHIS2. She often worked evenings and weekends to cross-reference stock ledgers, meticulously count opened vaccine vials, add tallies, and then carefully inscribe the information. It was a pain-staking process and just a few human errors from her miscalculations or the inaccurate recording of data might have serious consequences. This sometimes translated into insufficient vaccine stock and required that Aziza turn patients away for lifesaving vaccines.
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What to watch in 2018 in digital health: Conversations from the Global Digital Health Forum
Jan 11, 2018
Last month, more than 550 individuals in the digital health field – representing ministries of health, implementing organizations, and other partners – met for the 4th annual Global Digital Health Forum (GDHF) in Washington, DC. The conference, which experienced a 30 percent increase in participation from 2016, has established itself as a landmark annual event in the space. Over the course of three days, speakers and participants engaged in over 80 sessions, roundtables, and workshops to share lessons learned and best practices. Read about some of the major themes that emerged from the conversations.
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Participants reflect on lessons and growth, as the BID Learning Network gathers one last time in Zambia
Sep 21, 2017
Sometimes the best solutions have a deceptively simple answer, or the solution already exists. Peer learning networks are an opportunity for professionals working across a range of workplaces, sectors and countries to swap experiences, share best practices, and adapt defined solutions to their own contexts, so as not to reinvent the wheel. For the past four years, The BID Learning Network (BLN) has been a platform for this sharing. As the BLN convenes its final discussion meeting in Lusaka, Zambia this week, we caught up with one BLN member, Mbye Njie, EPI Capacity Building and Surveillance Officer for The Gambia, to discuss what the BLN has meant to him, since it launched in 2013.
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Lessons Learned in Electronic Immunization Registry Development
Nov 23, 2016
In partnership with the Zambia Ministry of Health (MOH), we’re committed to strengthening Zambia’s immunization services through better data collection, quality and use. From the start, we knew that technology alone couldn’t achieve our goals which is why we chose a holistic investment in information system products, data management policies and practices, and the people who will use the data for decision-making.
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BLN Awards Grant to The Gambia
Oct 27, 2016
We are pleased to share that our first grant has been awarded to The Gambia! The BID Learning Network offers the small grant program to facilitate the advancement of design member country goals that align with the BID Initiative priorities. The program’s objective tie into the BLN’s overall goals, including experimenting with projects in countries to determine their applicability; and using this experience to inform national and global decision-making.
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Change takes time, but not too much
Feb 9, 2016
I have always liked this quote by Bill Gates, as it reflects both my own experience in global health as well as the changing digital health landscape. A little over eight years ago, I started at PATH. Year one was quite a shock after working for 18 years in software and international trade. The business model, the acronyms—all were new to me and I knew next to nothing about global health. But I had amazing colleagues who took the time to educate me, listening to and answering my constant questions. While we came from different backgrounds, we shared a desire to change the world.
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A Quiet Revolution: Strengthening the Routine Health Information System in Bangladesh
Dec 4, 2014
The BID Initiative is not designed to create new information system products and solutions. Instead, our aim is to embrace and extend existing systems and investments made by national governments and their cooperating partners wherever possible.
In October, we conducted a webinar on the Electronic Immunization Registry implementation in Albania. Now, we take a look at a publication: A Quiet Revolution: Strengthening the Routine Health Information System in Bangladesh to learn how the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) used open source software to enable public health facilities to electronically report routine health information. It is our hope that by learning from what other countries have tested and implemented, we will arrive at a holistic and replicable solution that will result in strengthened immunization systems and overall health outcomes.
Read MoreRFP for Electronic Immunization Registry Development in Tanzania
Nov 6, 2014
The BID Initiative will introduce information system products and immunization practices that can be tested in Tanzania and Zambia, packaged for dissemination and then deployed at scale in many countries. To accomplish this, we have submitted a request for proposal for Electronic Immunization Registry Development in Tanzania.
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Product Vision for the BID Initiative is published!
Aug 29, 2014
With the inception of the BID Initiative, PATH has been working with partner countries to document a “top down” approach with a “bottom up” view. We begin with the national strategies, incorporating the current context of the users (e.g., the functional architecture) before considering the facility applications (e.g., the technical architecture) that are in use and have gained traction, and how they might tie together. Members of the BID Learning Network countries contributed to the materials contained in the BID Initiative’s product vision along with ministry representatives from the initial BID Initiative demonstration countries, Tanzania and Zambia.
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