ArticleBMC public health2023
A roadmap for using DHIS2 data to track progress in key health indicators in the Global South: experience from sub-saharan Africa.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The use of WHONET for antimicrobial resistance surveillance: a systematic review.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Modeling Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets and Intermittent Preventive Treatment to Guide Intervention Use Among Pregnant Women in Bauchi, Nigeria.AJPM focus · 2026Article
- Attitude and practices of district-level HMIS managers towards malaria routine reporting in Uganda: a 2024 cross-sectional study.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Stillbirth and newborn data quality and use and related input and process factors: findings of the IMPULSE study in Uganda.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- The effect of an educational campaign on contraception seeking in Northern Nigeria: an interrupted time series analysis using routine health information system data.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Challenges and potential opportunities for improving One Health surveillance in low-resource settings: Insights from rabies surveillance in Malawi.One health outlook · 2026Article
- Charting Africa's digital public health future: Five priorities for action.Journal of public health in Africa · 2026Article
- Capacity and site readiness for hypertension control program implementation in Nigeria: A nationwide cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Barriers and facilitators of the effective use of DHIS2 data to improve program planning and monitoring in Uganda: a sequential mixed methods study.Oxford open digital health · 2026Article
- Data warehousing in healthcare: enhancing resource allocation and decision-making in Botswana.Oxford open digital health · 2026Article
- Beyond the guidelines: participants' perspectives on sustained MPDSR implementation in Nigeria, North Macedonia, and Sri Lanka.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Contributions of District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) to maternal and child health service performance in Ethiopia: an interrupted time series mixed-methods study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- An exploration of sub-national variability in institutional maternal mortality ratios in Kenya: a meta-analysis of the 2021 health facility data.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Determining the total cost of ownership and end user perception of the Kenya National Cancer Registry (NaCaRE-KE): a DHIS2- based digital health System.Oxford open digital health · 2025Article
- Perceived accuracy and utilisation of DHIS2 data for health decision making and advocacy in Kenya: A Qualitative Study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on routine immunization in Sierra Leone.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Routine data in a primary care performance dashboard, Ethiopia.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2024Article
- Perceived progress toward scale of 14 maternal, newborn, child health, and nutrition (MNCHN) assets at subnational level in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Nigeria.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Unveiling the role of DHIS2 in enhancing data quality and accessibility in primary healthcare facilities: Evidence from Ethiopia.PloS one · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
High quality health data as collected by health management information systems (HMIS) is an important building block of national health systems. District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2) software is an innovation in data management and monitoring for strengthening HMIS that has been widely implemented in low and middle-income countries in the last decade. However, analysts and decision-makers still face significant challenges in fully utilizing the capabilities of DHIS2 data to pursue national and international health agendas. We aimed to (i) identify the most relevant health indicators captured by DHIS2 for tracking progress towards the Sustainable Development goals in sub-Saharan African countries and (ii) present a clear roadmap for improving DHIS2 data quality and consistency, with a special focus on immediately actionable solutions. We identified that key indicators in child and maternal health (e.g. vaccine coverage, maternal deaths) are currently being tracked in the DHIS2 of most countries, while other indicators (e.g. HIV/AIDS) would benefit from streamlining the number of indicators collected and standardizing case definitions. Common data issues included unreliable denominators for calculation of incidence, differences in reporting among health facilities, and programmatic differences in data quality. We proposed solutions for many common data pitfalls at the analysis level, including standardized data cleaning pipelines, k-means clustering to identify high performing health facilities in terms of data quality, and imputation methods. While we focus on immediately actionable solutions for DHIS2 analysts, improvements at the point of data collection are the most rigorous. By investing in improving data quality and monitoring, countries can leverage the current global attention on health data to strengthen HMIS and progress towards national and international health priorities.
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