Report of a Technical Consultation on Information Systems for Community-Based HIV Programs

Author(s):

Year: 2010

Abstract:

On July 21-22, 2009, more than 50 people representing multinational agencies, international profit and nonprofit organizations, and local implementing partners met to obtain consensus on a way forward to strengthen information systems for community-based HIV programs, to provide high quality data that are used to improve programs and facilitate reporting and use throughout the health system and beyond. The tools and experiences presented during the two-day meeting highlighted a variety of users and stakeholders at different levels of the health system, from the community to the national level. Recommendations emerging from the meeting underscored the fundamental need to strengthen monitoring and data use at the community-based program level by implementing monitoring and evaluating systems that yield quality, complete, relevant, and timely data. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; World Bank; Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; World Health Organization; MEASURE Evaluation; and U.S. Agency for International Development; among others, have ongoing efforts to strengthen information systems for community-based HIV programs.