Assessing a computerized routine health information system in Mali using LQAS

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Demography

Background:

• Save the Children implemented a child survival program in Mali from 1987-1998.
• A computerized health information system (HIS) was integral for data gathering on maternal and child health.

Purpose of the Study:

• Assess the coverage and data quality of the HIS.
• Identify health districts needing improved data collection.
• Determine specific weaknesses in data collection methods.

Main Methods:

• Lot Quality Assurance Method (LQAS) applied to 14 districts.
• Random sampling of 20 mothers with children under 5 per district.
• Interviews covered pregnancies, births, deaths, growth monitoring, and immunizations.

Main Results:

• Initial analysis rejected all districts due to low coverage (52% of events registered).
• Poor performance linked to immunization and growth monitoring data issues (printer problems).
• Excluding immunizations/growth monitoring improved coverage to 92% and quality to 86%.

Conclusions:

• The comprehensive computerized HIS did not meet expectations.
• Challenges stemmed from ambitious goals without adequate resources (staff, equipment).
• Future HIS should be more targeted and streamlined for better data utility.