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Research article
Health information systems in developing countries: Case of African countries
Aimé Patrice Koumamba
Universite de Bordeaux
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3506-2055
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: In developing countries, health information system (HIS) is experiencing more and more difficulties to produce quality data. The lack of reliable health related information makes it difficult to develop effective health policies. In order to understand the organization of HIS in African countries, we undertook a literature review.
Methods: Our study was conducted using the PubMed and Scopus bibliographic search engines. Our inclusion criteria were: (i) all articles published between 2005 and 2019, (ii) articles including in their titles the keywords "health", "information", "systems", "system", "africa", "developing countries", "santé", "pays en développement", "Afrique", (iii) articles that are written in English or French, (iv) which deals with organizational and technical issues about HIS in African countries.
Results: Fourteen retrieved articles out of 2492 were included in the study, of which 13 (92.9%) were qualitative. All of them dealt with issues related to HIS in 12 African countries. All 12 countries (100.0%) had opted for a data warehouse approach to improve their HIS. This approach, supported by the DHIS2 application, has enabled providing reliable data. However, 11 of the 12 countries (92.0%) were aligned with donors’ strategies and lacked any national strategy.
Conclusion: The current study suggests that the lack of a national health information management strategy will always be a threat to HIS performance in African countries. Ideally, rigorous upstream thinking to strengthen HIS governance should be undertaken by defining and proposing a coherent conceptual framework to analyze and guide the development and integration of digital applications into HIS over the long term.
Keywords
Health Information Systems, Healthcare Governance, health data, developing countries, performance.
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CURRENT STATUS: Under Review
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Posted 07 Jan, 2021
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Editor assigned
On 20 Dec, 2020
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On 20 Dec, 2020
Editor invited
On 20 Dec, 2020
No comments provided
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 17 Nov, 2020
Review #1 received
Received 06 Jul, 2020
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 19 Jun, 2020
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 16 Jun, 2020
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 16 Jun, 2020
Editor assigned
On 09 Jun, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 08 Jun, 2020
Editor invited
On 08 Jun, 2020
No comments provided
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 30 Apr, 2020
Review #1 received
Received 29 Apr, 2020
Review #3 received
Received 28 Apr, 2020
Review #2 received
Received 20 Apr, 2020
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 30 Mar, 2020
Reviewer #3 agreed
On 30 Mar, 2020
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 27 Mar, 2020
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 05 Mar, 2020
Editor assigned
On 08 Jan, 2020
First submitted
On 07 Jan, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 07 Jan, 2020
Editor invited
On 07 Jan, 2020
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Subject Areas
Medical Informatics
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This preprint is under consideration at BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. A preprint is a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Learn more about In Review
Research article
Health information systems in developing countries: Case of African countries
Aimé Patrice Koumamba
Universite de Bordeaux
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3506-2055
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
Peer Review Timeline
CURRENT STATUS: Under Review
Version 3
Posted 07 Jan, 2021
No community comments so far
Editor assigned
On 20 Dec, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 20 Dec, 2020
Editor invited
On 20 Dec, 2020
No comments provided
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 17 Nov, 2020
Review #1 received
Received 06 Jul, 2020
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 19 Jun, 2020
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 16 Jun, 2020
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 16 Jun, 2020
Editor assigned
On 09 Jun, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 08 Jun, 2020
Editor invited
On 08 Jun, 2020
No comments provided
Editorial decision: Major revision
On 30 Apr, 2020
Review #1 received
Received 29 Apr, 2020
Review #3 received
Received 28 Apr, 2020
Review #2 received
Received 20 Apr, 2020
Reviewer #2 agreed
On 30 Mar, 2020
Reviewer #3 agreed
On 30 Mar, 2020
Reviewer #1 agreed
On 27 Mar, 2020
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 05 Mar, 2020
Editor assigned
On 08 Jan, 2020
First submitted
On 07 Jan, 2020
Submission checks complete
On 07 Jan, 2020
Editor invited
On 07 Jan, 2020
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
Medical Informatics
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background: In developing countries, health information system (HIS) is experiencing more and more difficulties to produce quality data. The lack of reliable health related information makes it difficult to develop effective health policies. In order to understand the organization of HIS in African countries, we undertook a literature review.
Methods: Our study was conducted using the PubMed and Scopus bibliographic search engines. Our inclusion criteria were: (i) all articles published between 2005 and 2019, (ii) articles including in their titles the keywords "health", "information", "systems", "system", "africa", "developing countries", "santé", "pays en développement", "Afrique", (iii) articles that are written in English or French, (iv) which deals with organizational and technical issues about HIS in African countries.
Results: Fourteen retrieved articles out of 2492 were included in the study, of which 13 (92.9%) were qualitative. All of them dealt with issues related to HIS in 12 African countries. All 12 countries (100.0%) had opted for a data warehouse approach to improve their HIS. This approach, supported by the DHIS2 application, has enabled providing reliable data. However, 11 of the 12 countries (92.0%) were aligned with donors’ strategies and lacked any national strategy.
Conclusion: The current study suggests that the lack of a national health information management strategy will always be a threat to HIS performance in African countries. Ideally, rigorous upstream thinking to strengthen HIS governance should be undertaken by defining and proposing a coherent conceptual framework to analyze and guide the development and integration of digital applications into HIS over the long term.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5