The BID
Learning
Network

Nov 26, 2019

The costs of developing, deploying and maintaining electronic immunisation registries in Tanzania and Zambia

BMJ Global Health

Subjects: Hardware, Immunization Registry, Packaging, Policies, Practices, Products, Software
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

Between 2013 and 2018, BID designed, developed, and introduced an electronic immunization registry in three regions in Tanzania and one province in Zambia. The Initiative’s financial records were used to account for the financial costs of designing and developing the EIRs, BID staff time, expenditures for rolling out the EIR systems and the related suite of interventions to health facilities, and recurrent costs. Total financial costs, cost per facility and cost per child were calculated in 2018 US$. By documenting the costs associated with introducing an EIR, BID hopes to help other countries introduce more affordable platforms for their own health landscapes. Read the full article in BMJ Global Health.

Download File: pdf (286 KB)

Nov 11, 2019

The impact of an integrated electronic immunization registry and logistics management information system (EIR-eLMIS) on vaccine availability in three regions in Tanzania: A pre-post and time-series analysis

Vaccine

Subjects: Packaging, Policies, Practices

Since 2016, the Government of Tanzania has been implementing TImR, an integrated Electronic Immunization registry-logistics management information system (EIR-LMIS) that includes stock notifications. Working in close partnership with the Government of Tanzania, PATH conducted a study to estimate the impact of this intervention on vaccine availability. The findings of this study were published in Vaccine.

Download File: pdf (911 KB)

Oct 22, 2019

BLN/Gavi Data Quality and Use Collaborative Meeting Reports: Lusaka, 24-26 July 2019

Subjects: Peer Learning, People, Policies, Practices
Countries: Global

The BID Learning Network (BLN)/Gavi Data Quality and Use (DQU) Collaborative convened a meeting between July 24-26, 2019 in Lusaka, Zambia. It was attended by 25 participants, including immunization data managers from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, The Gambia, Uganda, and Zambia. This post includes the full meeting reports, including French and English translations.

Read More

Oct 3, 2019

Three waves of data use among health workers: The experience of the Better Immunization Data Initiative in Tanzania and Zambia

Global Health: Science and Practice

Subjects: People, Policies, Practices, Products
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

The governments of Tanzania and Zambia identified key data-related challenges affecting immunization service delivery including identifying children due for vaccines, time-consuming data entry processes, and inadequate resources. To address these challenges, since 2014, the countries have partnered with PATH’s Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative to design and deploy a suite of data quality and use interventions. Two key aspects of the interventions were an electronic immunization registry and tools and practices to strengthen a culture of data use. As both countries deployed the interventions, three distinct changes in data use emerged organically. This article provides a detailed summary of these three phases or waves, based mostly on qualitative data or observation: (1) strengthening data collection using new data collection tools and processes and increasing efficiency of health workers; (2) improving data quality regarding accuracy and completeness; and (3) increasing use of data to take action to strengthen their work and for programmatic decision making. These waves clearly demonstrated the growing ability of health workers to move from data collectors to data analyzers who began to focus on the data quality and then the value of using the data in their day-to-day activities. For the full article, visit Global Health: Science and Practice.

Download File: pdf (1.4 MB)

Aug 27, 2019

BLN/Gavi Data Quality and Use Collaborative Meeting Presentations: Lusaka, 24-26 July 2019

Subjects: GAVI, People, Policies
Countries: Global

The BID Learning Network (BLN)/Gavi Data Quality and Use (DQU) Collaborative convened a meeting between July 24-26, 2019 in Lusaka, Zambia. It was attended by 25 participants, including immunization data managers from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, The Gambia, Uganda, and Zambia. This post includes presentations from the meeting.

Read More

Aug 23, 2019

BLN Webinar | Cultivating a Data Use Culture: Lessons Learned from the BID Initiative

Subjects: People, Policies, Practices, Products
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

The BID Learning Network invites you to view a webinar presentation titled “Cultivating a Data Use Culture: Lessons Learned from the BID Initiative.” Global and national stakeholders have acknowledged that routine immunization programs face significant challenges related to the collection, availability, and use of data for planning, management, and improvement of program performance. To address these critical data challenges, the BID Initiative worked with the governments of Tanzania and Zambia, to introduce a suite of interventions at facility and district levels.

Read More

Aug 8, 2019

Electronic immunization registries in Tanzania and Zambia: Shaping a minimum viable product for scaled solutions

Frontiers in Public Health

Subjects: eHealth, Immunization Registry, People, Policies, Products
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

As part of the work the BID Initiative undertook starting in 2013 to improve countries’ collection, quality, and use of immunization data, PATH partnered with countries to identify the critical requirements for an electronic immunization registry (EIR). An EIR became the core intervention to address the data challenges that countries faced but also presented complexities during the development process to ensure that it met the core needs of the users. The work began with collecting common system requirements from 10 sub-Saharan African countries; these requirements represented the countries’ vision of an ideal system to track individual child vaccination schedules and elements of supply chain. Through iterative development processes in both Tanzania and Zambia, the common requirements were modified and adapted to better fit the country contexts and users’ needs, as well as to be developed with the technology available at the time. This process happened across four different software platforms. The BID Initiative recently published a paper to Frontiers in Public Health that outlines the process undertaken and analyzes similarities and differences across the iterations of the EIR in both countries, culminating in the development of a registry in Zambia that includes the most critical aspects required for initially deploying the registry and embodies what could be considered the minimum viable product for an EIR. Read the full article in Frontiers in Public Heath.

Download File: pdf (570 KB)

Jun 10, 2019

BID Regional Global Factsheet

Subjects: Packaging, People, Policies, Practices
Countries: Global

Led by PATH, in partnership with the governments of Tanzania and Zambia, the BID Initiative is grounded in the belief that better data, plus better decisions, will lead to better health outcomes. BID was designed to create an environment in which reliable, easily accessed, and actionable data can be used to improve health outcomes. This factsheet summarizes the BID Regional portfolio of work.

Read More

Jun 7, 2019

BLN Webinar | Immunization Data: Evidence for Action (IDEA) Review

Subjects: Packaging, Policies, Practices, Products
Countries: Global

The BID Learning Network invites you to view a webinar presentation on The Immunization Data: Evidence for Action (IDEA) Review. IDEA is a global synthesis of existing evidence aimed at increasing the use of high-quality data to improve immunization coverage. While advances in information technology have led to continuous increases in the amount of health data available, data remains an under-utilized resource in the design and implementation of immunization programs throughout the world. The IDEA Review identifies five proven strategies to improve data use and outlines how funders, policymakers, and program implementers can incorporate these best practices to improve the efficacy of regional and national immunization programs.

Read More