Building health systems capacity: an introductory training course on health information systems

The inadequate capacity of health information systems (HIS) in developing countries of Asia and the Pacific has been an ongoing issue. Training of data producers and data users in generating, analysing and using data has been identified as a key option in strengthening HIS in the region and consequently building health system capacity. Accordingly, the HIS Knowledge Hub at the School of Population Health, the University of Queensland, has developed HIS curriculum, piloted and evaluated the course. Experiences in the development and design of the curriculum, and delivery and evaluation of the course, are presented in this article. The participants evaluated that the course met their expectations in usefulness to their roles, demonstrated adequate HIS knowledge and skills in their group presentations at the end of the course, and applied what they learnt from the course in their workplace.