Health System in Haiti Takes Key Step by Launching National Tuberculosis Tracker

By Atwood Raphael, Deputy chief of party, USAID/Haiti Strategic Health Information System ProgramDecember 17, 2018Newly digitized data will help  the government address the disease, decide where to invest in clinics and staff, and more.Haiti ’s government this year launched a national electronic platform for reporting and tracking tuberculosis (TB), a key step in its efforts to capture, monitor, and report all patient-level data across the country.Information on cases of TB —a contagious and often deadly disease plaguing the Caribbean nation—is being prepared for aggregation into the System d’Information Sanitaire Nationale Unique, or SISNU, which uses the DHIS2 open-source software platform for reporting, analyzing, and disseminating national health data.Haiti perpetually suffers the  highest incidence of TB in the Americas.Development of the TB tracker and related work is being led by the  Haiti Strategic Health Information System (HIS) Program. Launched in 2017, HIS is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by DAI in partnership with Haiti ’s Ministry of Health (MSPP). Data on TB cases and treatment regimens is being captured electronically—and soon through a mobile application that will better serves remote locales.For the three-month TB pilot phase, the HIS team trained health professionals at nine facilities from four of Haiti ’s departments—Artibonite, Centre, North, and West. This area includes nearly hal...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Tuberculosis Haiti Source Type: news