Mapping the Stages of MEASURE Evaluation's Data Use Continuum to DHIS 2: An Example from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Author(s): MEASURE Evaluation

Year: 2019

Abstract:

The use of good-quality health data for decision making is the key output of strengthened health information systems (HIS) and a cornerstone of a well-functioning health system. Data use is defined as “the analysis, synthesis, interpretation, and review of data as part of decision-making processes, regardless of the source of data” (Nutley & Reynolds, 2013). MEASURE Evaluation, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, has developed the data use continuum, which describes how data are used both to strengthen HIS and to improve health programs.

DHIS 2 is an electronic platform for the collection and analysis of health data. The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) adopted DHIS 2 as the country’s national health information system. The government began to pilot and roll out the system subnationally in 2014, scaling it up countrywide over three years. The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative funded MEASURE Evaluation to conduct an assessment in 2017 that highlighted several barriers to  the use of malaria data at multiple levels of the health system in the country. This assessment informed a series of interventions to strengthen the use of DHIS 2. This brief documents the key phases of the data use continuum and describes the ways in which the rollout and implementation of DHIS 2 in the DRC facilitated the use of data to improve the HIS and health programs.