The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #53322

Alfonso Rosales, MD;MPH-TM, Catholic Relief Services, 209 West Fayette St, Baltimore, MD 21201, 410-951-7436, arosales@catholicrelief.org

Community-based data is used to detect pregnant women and identify pregnancy-related health problems, measure health outcomes of pregnancy-related events, and document patterns by time, place, and person. In 1999 Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its local partner COCEPRADII started implementing a four-year, USAID-funded Program in rural Honduras. It targets 95 communities in the Intibuca Department, with an estimated beneficiary population of 45,000 people. Intibuca is one of the poorest and least accessible departments. Its MMR is 534/100,000 (UNICEF1999), 2.4 times the national rate. One of the most essential aspects of the strategy for improving access to adequate maternal and neonatal care is a functional community-based health information system (CB-HIS). The Intibuca CB-HIS is designed to be responsive to local neonatal/reproductive health needs and the required level of decision-making at community, health facility, and project levels. TBAs and community groups have used the information they collected and analyzed to address specific issues such as place of delivery and emergency transport. The Intibuca CB-HIS also measures health outcomes of pregnancy-related events, and documents patterns by time, place, and person for project-level decision-making and management. The main results of the HIS have been an increased coverage of prenatal care (higher than 90%) at the facility level, increased deliveries at health facility level (from 14% to 20%), increased number of referrals to second level of obstetric care (100% of obstetric complications being referred), and increased community participation and allocation of community resources in addressing health needs (40% of villages with obstetric emergency transport plan).

Learning Objectives:

• The paper will explain a participatory process by which an effective and efficient community based HIS is developed and managed by community members.

Keywords: Health Information Systems, Reproductive Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.