Gambia
is hosting the 10th annual meeting of National Health Management Information
System (NHMIS), to review the status of implementation of the recommendation
from the 2018 meeting and to discuss the priority actions to be carried out
within the framework of the partnership for the next 12 months.
The
meeting is important, as the sub-region is collectively working in efforts to
combat diseases that could pose threat to the health and well-being of the
population.
The
meeting that was held at Metz hotel, brought together 15 countries of the
ECOWAS member States to discuss and give a good shape to the health sector.
Dr.
Kofi Busia, director of health care service of World Health Organisation (WHO),
said they depend on information to guide their responses in allocating
resources and to ensure effective response to various public health
emergencies.
He
added that it requires tremendous efforts from NHMIS to enhance the technical
and operational skills to enable them to have real-time, quantity and quality
data for monitoring the health status of people and health system performances.
“We
have been holding meetings regularly for 10 years now and significant gains
have been made at regional and country levels in the health information system.
Several countries have been able to reform their system and adopt more
appropriate tools and technologies for collecting, managing and sharing health
information.”
Dr.
Desta A Tiruneh, WHO country representative explained that the global health
organisation’s support to the strengthening of NHMIS in recent years is geared
towards the development of National Health Observations (NHOs) in member
States.
He
said it is also geared to provide support to build and strengthen capacity for
NHMIS, health and research, strengthening country capacity for assessment,
planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation in the health sector.
Muhammadu
Lamin Jaiteh, deputy Permanent Secretary of the ministry of health, said the
meeting is a platform where stakeholders will discuss the organisational and
operational issues of NHMIS in the ECOWAS region and share experience in the
production, dissemination and use of information for decision making at all
levels of the health system.
“This
year’s meeting will focus on the analysis and validation of the 2018 health
situation report of each Member State and discuss and adopt the frameworks for
the production of health profiles of the ECOWAS countries.”