Pathways To Improve Health Information Systems In Ethiopia

Abstract

Striving to tap into the huge benefit and positive impact of health information systems (HIS) for the health sector, the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia (MoH) identified digital transformation and its governance as one of the major pillars of the health sector transformation plan (HSTP-II, 2020-2025). The MoH also prepared the Information Revolution (IR) Roadmap and Digital Health Blueprint (DHBp) to provide overall guidance for all stakeholders to adhere to and use as a basis for the HIS/digital health investment in the country. As implementing HIS/digital health is a resource intensive engagement, developing countries, like Ethiopia, should wisely implement these systems with a priority-based approach. Further, countries should devise a mechanism to regularly assess if these systems are performing as per their set objectives and take managed actions to rectify problematic areas. There should also be a coordinated effort among all relevant stakeholders in the sector to identify the HIS/digital health priority areas which are aligned with the sector’s strategic objectives to take advantage of the continuous advancement of information and communication technology (ICT).