Description of Session
Kenya has a wealth of mature health information systems (HIS) used across the country with the majority of the systems having been in existence for at least 3 years. The health sector make use of these systems to collect clinical, financial and performance indicators. Key among the systems are the District Health Information Software version 2 (DHIS2), Kenya Health Master Facility List (KHMFL), Logistic management Information System (LMIS), integrated Human Resource Management System (iHRIS), HIV Situation Room, Linda Mama, and Tibu. To maximize decision making based on the data generated from these systems, Kenya is developing an integrated platform that provides flexible access to health information and research evidence. The platform code-named Kenya Health and Research Observatory (KHRO) will be a single source of quality health data, statistic and knowledge products curated to inform decisions right from service delivery to public health management at all levels of care. Thus, KHRO will play a critical role in monitoring the country’s progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by the year 2022. Through user-centered approach, KHRO has been designed as an integrated platform comprising of external data sources, Extraction Transformation and Loading (ETL), Staging area, Data warehouse, and Data marts (replicas). This makes the platform context-aware, responsive and user-friendly for visualizations on mobile devices and desktop computers. It is evident that the Kenyan Government is steadily working to improve the enabling environment required for the integration of health information systems into an Enterprise Architecture. Nevertheless, to fully realize the benefits of KHRO, more work still needs to be done particularly in defining a policy framework for effective sharing and utilization of massive data, statistics and research (evidence) provided through KHRO platform.
