Use of routine health information systems for policy-making towards universal health coverage in decentralized countries

Overview

What is the role of Routine Health Information Systems in planning in decentralized countries? How did COVID_19 Outbreak change this process? What can be done better and what can we learn from these two populous, island nations?

Use of routine health information systems for policy-making towards universal health coverage in decentralized countries: a comparative analysis of strategies used in the Philippines and Indonesia is a new comparative country study published by the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (APO) to highlight experiences in Indonesia and the Philippines during peace time and in middle of Pandemic.

Routine Health Information Systems (RHIS) are a fundamental enabler for a high functioning health system. They provide health system planners and managers with the data required to make informed decisions.

The past decade has witnessed the rapid development of health information systems in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but there are barriers to expand their use. These barriers are categorized into behavioural (e.g. limited RHIS knowledge and skills), technical (e.g. suboptimal system design), and organizational (e.g. delayed feedback from the central government).

The COVID-19 pandemic not only increased the demand for more disaggregated data but also changed the way in which health system managers have relied on the health system for decision-making and delivery of quality health services.

This qualitative study examined how policy-makers in two largely similar countries in the Asia-Pacific region use RHIS data to inform their decisions and the limiting factors that interfere with its utilization and implementation.

The detailed analysis of this book describes similarities and differences between the two countries on how RHIS are used, the barriers to overcome to expand its use and the impact, both positive and negative of use of RHIS when tackling COVID-19 outbreak and possible impact on future use of RHIS in these countries.

How to Cite this publication

Grepin K, Song M, Lazuardi L, Marthias T, Sarmiento RFR et al. Use of routine health information systems for policy-making towards universal health coverage in decentralized countries: a comparative analysis of strategies used in Indonesia and Philippines. New Delhi: World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2023

WHO Team
Asia Pacific Observatory

Editor
Karen Grepin