It is essential for policy-makers to have a reliable and clear picture of how health is distributed in a given population, and what indicators contribute to or reduce opportunities to be healthy. Therefore, the surveillance of population health and well-being is the first of ten essential public health operations defined by WHO. WHO has a long tradition of providing support to Member States to strengthen their health information systems (HISs). Support tool to strengthen health information systems, is only one of WHO tools which provides guidance for HIS assessment and strategy development.The tool was first published in 2015, and an updated version was published in 2021. Current edition contains refined assessment methodology for the core module and four new add-on modules – Emergency response information management system, Geographic information system, Long-term care, and Migration health data - complementing the add-on modules included in the 2021 update (Health data governance, Health information for the Thirteenth General Programme of Work and the European Programme of Work 2020–2025, Human resources for health, Infectious disease surveillance, and Noncommunicable diseases monitoring).The tool has two main parts: guidance for performing an assessment of a full HIS and guidance for the subsequent development of an HIS strategy. The assessment methodology aims to achieve a good balance between data collection and actual data use and reflects the growing importance of electronic health records and other digital solutions. Add-on modules provide support for a more in-depth assessment of specific functions of HISs. Based on the outcomes of the assessment, the tool describes a stepwise and practical approach for HIS strategy development. The HIS assessment item sheets that are part of the assessment methodology are also available in the form of an excel sheet and published as a separate Web Annex.
Authors
- Citation
- World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe . (2024). Support tool to strengthen health information systems: guidance for health information system assessment and strategy development, second edition. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/376978 . License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
- ISBN
- 9789289061148 (PDF)
- Published in
- Switzerland
- Rights
- CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Health Organization
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements 7
- Abbreviations 8
- Executive summary 9
- What is new in the current edition of the Support tool? 10
- Introduction 11
- Supporting the implementation of WHO’s European Programme of Work 12
- Structure and application of this tool 14
- Setting the scene: HISs and their governance 16
- HIS: what are we actually talking about? 16
- HISs and related concepts: population health surveillance and monitoring, M&E and health system performance assessment 19
- HISs and governance 21
- Step 1. Performing an HIS assessment: where are we now? 23
- HIS assessment approaches and existing tools 23
- Assessment approach for this support tool 25
- Step 2. Developing an HIS: where do we want to go? 33
- From external assessment to country-led strategy development 33
- What should the HIS achieve? 33
- What are important HIS values? 34
- Step 3. Developing an HIS improvement plan: how are we going to achieve our vision? 38
- Elements needed to build the HIS improvement plan 38
- Guiding principles for HIS development 45
- Step 4. Monitoring progress and performing regular evaluations: are we on track? 46
- Developing the M&E plan: what, how and follow-up 46
- Compiling the HIS strategy 51
- References 53
- Glossary 57
- References 58
- Annexes 59
- Annex 1. Health information system assessment item sheets for the core module 60
- Annex 2. Emergency response information management system (ERIMS) add-on module 89
- Annex 3. Geographic information system add-on module 107
- Annex 4. Health data governance add-on module 123
- Annex 5. Health information for the Thirteenth General Programme of Work and the European Programme of Work 2020–2025 add-on module 135
- Annex 6. Human resources for health add-on module 147
- Annex 7. Infectious disease surveillance add-on module 161
- Annex 8. Long-term care add-on module 180
- Annex 9. Migration health data add-on module 195
- Annex 10. Noncommunicable disease monitoring add-on module 214
- Annex 11. Template for health information system improvement roadmap 235