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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

James C. Setzer, MPH¹, Gilbert Kombe, MD, MPH¹, Paul S. Chishimba¹, and Catherine B. Decker². (1) International Health Division, Abt Associates, 4800 Montgomery Lane # 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301 913 0500, jim_setzer@abtassoc.com, (2) University Research Co., 7200 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814

Motivated by WHO's 3 by 5 initiative and strong financial support from the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) many African countries have accepted the challenge of scaling up programs to provide anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to the large numbers of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) within their borders. The primary focus of these efforts has been to initiate and provide treatment to as many patients as possible. The results have been impressive as tens of thousands of PLWHA in each country have begun to receive these life-prolonging drugs over the past 2 years. However, in many cases, the systems needed to monitor and evaluate these programs have not yet been put into place. This leaves care providers, health facility managers and regional and national program managers without the information necessary to provide the consistent care and support that ART patients require. With Support from PEPFAR two countries, Zambia and Kenya have developed effective, operational information systems to support the needs of their rapidly expanding ART service delivery efforts. The systems were defined and created form the patient up with the ability to meet the information needs at all levels of the health system. A key element of the design of the systems is their ability to be used in facilities with varying degrees of support and infrastructure (from purely paper-based to fully automated/computerized). This presentation will outline the steps in the development of these systems and the key elements leading to their successful implementation in a compressed timeframe.

Learning Objectives:

(
• Participants will learn the steps used in the design and implementation of two successful HMIS systems to support rapid scale up of ART service delivery. (
• Presentation will review key challenges and opportunities of setting successful national monitoring systems in low resource settings.

Keywords: Health Management Information Systems, HIV Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation