FEBRUARY 2008 — Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Health adopted District Health Information System (DHIS) software as its health management information system in October 2006, and since then has greatly improved the accurate collection, storage, and sharing of health data in the country.

FHI began use of DHIS software in its country programming in February 2007. In September 2007, the Nigerian government requested that FHI support the Ministry of Health's HIV/AIDS division and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in integrating HIV/AIDS data into the DHIS software. FHI's collaboration with its Nigerian partners has led to a national integration of HIV data on the same HMIS platform as other health data.

Through DHIS, the ministry now has a comprehensive list of all health facilities in the country and can exchange data with them. It is better positioned to uphold one of the "three ones" principles: that there be one country-level monitoring and evaluation system. 

With funding from USAID and DFID, FHI is also strengthening the institutional and organizational capacity of State Action Committees on AIDS (SACAs) and their colleagues at the State Ministries of Health in six states to coordinate and implement effective use of the DHIS for data capture, analysis, and reporting.

Plans are underway to customize the software templates for use within different levels of government agencies and to catch up with data entry backlogs at both state and federal levels. Once this is completed, HIV data from states will be transmitted to the national level on a monthly basis.

There is also potential for improved data sharing between government agencies, implementing partners, and other stakeholders, which will lead to better decisionmaking for the general public. FHI continues to provide technical assistance and technology support to the state and national partners as they engage with the HMIS platform.

FHI uniquely links the DHIS database to its program monitoring performance charts, which ensures that they are automatically updated monthly. These charts provide feedback to program managers, as well as state and facility personnel. "DHIS has revolutionized the way we manage data, improving our data quality and data analysis capabilities and influencing decisionmaking at all levels," says Mike Merrigan, director of M&E for the GHAIN project.

DHIS is an open-source and user-friendly software developed by the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP), an international network of universities, health ministries, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. It has been continuously adapted by healthcare and software professionals in developing countries since 1994.

The award-winning software is dynamic — it facilitates improved analysis, reporting, and use of data at every level of a local health system. "DHIS has brought about increase in data appreciation and analysis, which has resulted in improved data quality," says Dr Ayo Adene, a research officer in the M&E department of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).

PHOTO: Browsing the DHIS system are (from left) Mike Merrigan, FHI director M&E; Williams Ojo, FHI statistician/GIS officer; Henry Akpan, NASCP coordinator; and Aderemi Azeez, NASCP head of strategic information. (FHI/Nigeria)

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