Strengthening of a health management information system (HMIS) - Zambia

Under the Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS), the European Union provides substantial funds to Zambia for poverty reduction. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) emphasises health and has a number of indicators to monitor the health sector in line with the National Health Strategic Plan 2006-11.

As part of this, Health Partners International (HPI) was contracted to help the Zambia Ministry of Health set up a modern, integrated health management information systems (HMIS) database that would be flexible, user-friendly and able to handle all necessary data sources.

The main objective was to improve the effectiveness of health care delivery through the strengthening of HMIS.

HPI is providing a number of inputs to the ministry of health. These have included:

a project coordinator who provides overall technical support to the project
a procurement specialist who developed the specifications for the technical infrastructure necessary for the HMIS database
a training specialist who assisted in the development and delivery of pre-service and in-service training programmes for HMIS personnel and other health professionals.