Entebbe, 3rd February 2016 - The Quarterly National Electronic Health Management Information System, (eHMIS) Stakeholders Meeting took place at the Lake Victoria Hotel (LAICO).

The objectives of the meeting included: The dissemination of the eHealth assessment readiness findings; appraisal of the current eHMIS system for better delivery as well engaging the various action centers in relation to data generated within the health system to review the framework for action and feedback to the health Information Division/ Resource Centre, districts, health facilities, Implementing partners and other stakeholders.

Others included; strengthening dissemination of information and feedback to stakeholders for decision making purposes as well as promoting accountability ownership and involvement of stakeholders in strengthening health service delivery.

The Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Ministry of Health Resource Center Dr. Eddie Mukoyo was the Guest of Honour. In his remarks, Dr. Mukoyo said that the MOH resource centre will be restructured to increase productivity. He further said that MOH and partners should work together more, to design an action plan that will foster district coordination. He also thanked the partners and other stakeholders for their unwavering support and also emphasized the need for good coordination of partners to work in line with government priorities.

The well attended meeting was filled with technical capacity with presentations from different partners, stakeholders and district officials who shared their experiences.

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides the first core of the technical and financial support of eHMIS which has seen growth and consolidation of HMIS from mere data collection to the use of this data so support evidence based decision making.  WHO also supports the District Health Information systems (DHIS2), Mobile Tracking (mTRACK), and OpenMRS which are key innovation tools for data collection, analysis and dissemination to inform decision making processes in the health sector.

Furthermore WHO has provided technical support in the design, development and consultative forums that have led to the final draft of the eHealth policy that awaits ratification and approval by the government and key stakeholders.

It’s imperative to note that the eHealth policy was largely informed by the WHO Tool kit.

WHO is also supporting the government to enable the country transcend from paper to electronic information storage a move that will help in having real time data, there are ongoing discussions to come up with a  national records databank/portal.

All these innovations are geared towards enabling Uganda attain its first National Health Bank, a cloud computing environment, attain the Sustainable Development Goals as well Universal Health Coverage.

The stakeholders meeting was well attended by officials from MOH, Centre for Disease Control, implementing partners as well as district officials.

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For more information, please contact:

Mwebembezi Edmond, Public Information Officer, Tel: +256 414 335569, Cell: +256 782 962674, Email: mwebembezie [at] who.int (mwebembezie[at]who[dot]int)

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Below:

01. The Assistant Commissioner Ministry of Health Resource Center Dr. Eddie Mukoyo delivers his opening remarks, on the left Mr. Moses Bagyendera (WHO) 

02. Participants at the eHMIS National Stakeholders meeting held at Lake Victoria Hotel, Entebbe