Gambia host 10th annual rigional meeting of NHMIS

By Pa Modou Cham

The Gambia have been given the prevailed to hold the 10th annual meeting of National Health Management Information System (NHMIS) yesterday, with the objective 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.

However the meeting is important, as the sub-region is working collectively and earnestly in gaining momentum in combating diseases that could threat the health and well-being of the population.

The meeting that was held at Metz hotel, has attracted 15 countries of the ECOWAS member States to discuss and better give a good shape to the health sector.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Dr. Kofi Busia the director of health care service who delivered a statement on be half of the director General of West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO), stated that they depend on information to better guide their responses, in order to better allocate their limited resources and ensure an 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 people's health status and health system performance put in place.

"We have been holding the meeting regularly for 10 years now and significant gains have been made at regional and country levels in 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 rep explained that WHO's support for the strengthening NHMIS in recent years, is geared through the development of National Health Observations (NHOs) in member States, saying is to provide "support to build and strengthen capacity for NHMIS, eHalth and research, as well as strengthening country capacity for assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in the health sector."

Muhammadu Lamin Jaiteh, the deputy permanent Secretary who also represented the Hon minister of health, highlighted that the meeting is a platform of which stakeholders would discuss the organizational and operational issues of NHMIS in the ECOWAS region an share experiences 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 reports of each member State, as well as discuss and adopt the frameworks for the production of health profiles of the ECOWAS countries on the year 2020."