Integrated Health Information Systems (HIS) for vaccination in developing countries

Improving immunisation coverage is seen as a cost effective and efficient means for improving the health of populations. However, increasing focus is being directed at populations where coverage is poor, and to populations who are marginalised and therefo re at risk. Identifying these groups is not easy in an environment where health information systems are fragmented, and provide incomplete and poor quality data. The proposed project is a cross-disciplinary international consortium for research and devel opment on appropriate Health Information Systems (HIS) to support monitoring, evaluation, management and delivery of effective and equitable vaccination services in low and mid-income countries. Our aim is to use information to identify marginalised group s by strengthening information gathering processes. Research into the most appropriate use of free and open source software at community, health facility and managerial levels to support the immunisation programme will be conducted, and published throug h the strengthening of an international research network of masters and PhD students working alongside ministries of health in India, Vietnam, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zanzibar and South Africa. A key element of the proposal is to explore the most appropriate mechanisms to achieve an integrated HIS while strengthening the vaccine programme HIS. An action research methodology is proposed, enabling in-country assessments, and cross-country comparisons. Four work packages are proposed suppor ting the overall project management, consortium development, country specific programmes and software development initiatives. An important consideration is the fact that the consortium already has a proven track record of experience and existing networks in the countries mentioned, and will thus quickly be able to scale up initiatives in support of strengthening the HIS related to the immunisation program.