District Health IT Officer PPP Fact Sheet
Transcription
District Health IT Officer PPP Fact Sheet
Botswana District Health IT Officers Public-Private Partnership (DHITO PPP) Helping match Botswana’s health information technology systems with skilled human resources Client: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); CDC Botswana Location: Botswana Sector: Health Information Systems Start date: September 2011 Completion date: March 2015 Office responsible: Cardno Emerging Markets USA, Ltd. Key services: > > > > Funds Management Program Technical Support Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Knowledge Management and Strategic Communications Contact Cardno: Phone +1 703 373 7747 [email protected] www.cardno.com Project Website: www.cdcp4.org Cardno’s CDC Public-Private Partnerships in PEPFAR Countries Project (CDC P4) Cardno operates in coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) U.S. Office of Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) to serve as the Global Secretariat. Cardno assists in managing the Botswana District Health IT Officers (DHITO) PPP. Background In Botswana, the development of information technology (IT) tools is vital to ensure that accurate and real-time monitoring and evaluation occurs. However, the recent rapid influx of health resources has overwhelmed Botswana’s IT support infrastructure, leaving it to rely on ill-supported IT tools. Given the lack of IT expertise and human resources at the district-level, IT assistance was identified as a critical gap that inhibited districts from timely reporting and utilizing data for optimal service delivery. Botswana has been at the forefront of applying these tools to resolve its various health challenges, including having the world’s second highest HIV prevalence of 24.8% and very scarce human resources. Overview In September 2011, OGAC and CDC Botswana collaborated with Botho University, a private technology university in Botswana, and the Ministry of Health (MoH), to launch the DHITO PPP to reinforce the government’s IT capacity to address the challenges. The partnership competitively selected recent Botho University graduates as IT Interns who were given attachments funded by CDC Botswana in districts to support small health facilities lacking adequate IT support. Botho University trained interns in the management of IT systems for the supported health facilities and provided them one to two weeks of training after recruitment. CDC Botswana and MoH provided technical oversight and mentorship to the interns deployed to facilities. Cardno provided technical and program management services to inform program development and implementation. The The development of information technology tools is vital to ensuring that accurate and realtime monitoring and evaluation occurs. university also provided technical assistance and supervisory visits to supported health institutions during the internships. Interns were funded for a period ranging from one to two years, at which point the Government of Botswana (GoB) and other partners, considered absorption for program continuity and sustainability. In order to strengthen the Botswana Health Information Systems portfolio, the PPP set forth the following three objectives: (i) Increase the personnel and skills of the IT Interns in health information systems; (ii) Increase in IT personnel at health districts; and (iii) Increase the functionality of IT infrastructure at the district level and facility level. Specifically, the IT Interns supported the GoB in strengthening the capacity of health districts and civil society organizations to report results in a timely manner and to utilize locally-generated data for health programming, diagnostics and treatment. Intern Roles & Activities Under the Partnership, the IT Interns served in the following roles and capacities: > Ministry of Health IT Officer Interns: Interns deployed to health facilities to assist the service delivery units with various IT needs. > Central Medical Stores (CMS) IT Interns: Interns deployed to this strategic governmental organization to strengthen its IT capacity. > Increase in on-time Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) reporting by district health facilities to CMS from 30.7% (2012) to 90.5% (2015). > Institute of Health Services (IHS): Interns deployed to this strategic nongovernmental organization to strengthen its IT capacity. > Monitoring of PIMS performance through site visits conducted twice a week to approximately 276 PIMS sites between 2012 and 2015. > IT Software & Developer Interns: Interns deployed to support development and maintenance of open source health tools. > On-site mentoring and training to an average of over 2,211 district health facility PIMS users per year. > CDC Help Desk/PIMS Interns: Intern developers deployed to support PIMS rollout and implementation. > Seven modules out of existing PIMS modules were modified to create a webbased centralized system for aggregated data. Key Results > A total of USD $2,388,867 was contributed to the partnership, including in-kind contributions valued at USD $1,194,434 leveraged from Botho University (through December 2014). > Reduction in average system downtime from seven days (2012) to one day (2015) across district health facilities in 27 supported districts. > Number of interns recruited and trained to the program: 84 > Number of health facilities supported by the partnership: 37 > Number of satellite facilities supported by interns: 201 > Number of interns absorbed post-internship: 23. Front from left to right: An MOH IT Officer repairs a computer. A PIMS IT Officer Intern supports a facility doctor to enter patient data into PIMS. Back from left to right: The Partnership aids students in achieving successful placement in the job market after graduation. An MOH IT Officer services hardware. April 2015 Images: