Design and Framework for Developing Disaster Health Information System (DHIS): A Systematic Review

Health information systems are critically important in disaster management. It supports disaster management activities and the information needed for decision-making support. We aimed to evaluate comprehensively published literature on disaster health information systems designed to identify and extract the required framework and components.

A systematic review approach was used to systematically seek, screen, and synthesize data extracted from papers on using health information systems in disasters from the electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, and SAGE) with no limit up to Jan 2022 following the PRISMA declaration for reporting. The inclusion criteria consisted of full-text journal articles, publications in English, and studies focusing on disaster health information systems, critically evaluated articles using the Joanna Brigg Institute (JBI). Content analysis was used to analyze extracted data.

Of 998 identified references, 18 articles were finally included and analyzed in this study and they are good quality according to appraisal results using JBI. Most reports described research of development or working prototypes and working framework; only two referred to early research or proposed design or framework. Of 18 articles; identified into 3 themes; 4 DHISs in pre-disaster, thirteen DHISs used during the disaster, and one DHIS in post-disaster were identified.

All the systems have a design or framework starting from strategies and plans, information flow, disaster management, and operation engagement, and involve all stakeholders, including the community. Its systems are supported by the latest technology and methods and the principles of integration and interoperability to obtain a DHIS that can assist decision-making processes.