Strengthening Health Information Systems in Zambia
We will advance health monitoring, evaluation and research in Zambia
USAID/Zambia is the 11th largest Mission in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a portfolio of $277 million in 2019. Almost 80% of that portfolio is directed toward health and population issues.
USAID/Zambia has selected MSI, A Tetra Tech Company, to strengthen Zambia’s health management information systems (HMIS). Together with our partners – the University of Maryland-Baltimore, Health Information Systems Program (HISP) South Africa and HISP Zambia – we will work to improve the quality, timeliness and accessibility of HMIS data at all levels of the government (e.g. from the health facility level to the national level. Our focus is on a comprehensive program of support for HMIS policy and standards, data quality assurance and improvement, and training. The project will also focus on strengthening HMIS component interoperability and knowledge management to share learning across all stakeholders.
Our efforts will also strengthen Zambia’s research community and institutions in conducting monitoring, evaluation (M&E) and research, including innovative research among junior researchers to contribute to the overall evidence base. The project will help provide evidence to inform and improve health programming, including in HIV/AIDS, nutrition, family planning, maternal and child health and malaria.
Ultimately, our approach intends to strengthen the capacity of two local institutions to provide support to the Government of Zambia long after the project has ended: HISP-Zambia for HMIS strengthening and the National Health Research Authority (NHRA) for national health research policy and capacity building.
The project will also support USAID in expanding their internal evidence base through improving and expanding implementing partners’ contributions of data and learning to inform decision making.
This project builds upon our successful work on the Ghana Evaluate for Health project. There, we have built a thriving M&E community of practice and helped to create sustainable systems to support future M&E, including the successful rollout of an e-Tracker system to collect client transaction data at the community and sub-district levels.