Integrated Health Information Systems for Public Health in South Africa

This is a proposal for a multi-disciplinary research project involving the academic fields of public health and informatics that will link two universities in South Africa (University of Pretoria, Department of Informatics, and the University of Western Cape, School of Public Health), and the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo, Norway. The interdisciplinary nature of this consortium is highly relevant to address research in two areas of health management information systems that are high ly relevant in the current South African context, namely the integration of information systems across functional areas (e.g. integration of vertical programs such as nutrition and HIV/AIDS), and the integration of different types of data, namely: patient based data, statistical routine data and routine survey data (such as a waiting times and efficiency survey) in a single system. We address three areas identified in the call for proposals, namely the health and medical sciences (with emphasis on mothe r and child health, public and community based health, preventative health and nutrition), HIV/AIDS (including non-clinical and multi-sectoral perspectives), and information and communication technology. We propose two hypotheses, firstly that effective information systems (IS) and systematic use of information, and pragmatic perspectives on implementation of information systems will significantly increase quality, equity and accessibility of services. Secondly, that better integration of HIS across ver tical programs and incorporation of routine surveys will significantly enhance the overall information system and the information available for each program. An action research methodology is proposed. An important consideration is the fact that the conso rtium 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 the research agenda.