Comprehensive assessment of Somalia’s health information system 2022

This report presents the findings of a comprehensive assessment of Somalia’s health information system undertaken by WHO in 2022 at the request of Federal Ministry of Health and Human Services. Health information systems including civil registration and vital statistics systems provide health information data for programme and performance monitoring quality of care planning and policymaking. The assessment resulted in a set of recommendations for the Ministry and other stakeholders to develop comprehensive and efficient systems to: monitor health risks and determinants; track health status and outcomes including cause-specific mortality; and assess health system performance. The recommendations also provide an opportunity for the country to respond to the growing demands for health data to measure progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

Feasibility of measuring comorbidity indices based on clinical breast cancer records

Background:Comorbidities have a significant impact on the treatment and outcome of breast cancer. However, data on such comorbidities from low-income countries are limited.Aim:To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of comorbidity data extracted from medical records for estimating the prevalence of comorbidities among patients registered in the clinical breast cancer registry of the Islamic Republic of Iran.Methods:We collected data from the medical records of 400 patients on 30 comorbidities included in the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI). The sensitivity and specificity of comorbidity data extracted from medical records were calculated using data from interviews with 97 randomly selected patients. We studied the prevalence of comorbidities using the CCI and ECI. Data were analysed using SPSS version 24.Results:The mean age of patients was 51.69 SD 12.28 years. The sensitivity and specificity of medical records for detecting any comorbidity data contained in CCI versus non-comorbidity were 93.2% and 69.8%, respectively. However, for the comorbidity data included in ECI, both sensitivity (86.9%) and specificity (44.4%) were lower than in CCI. Hypertension (n = 144, 36.0%) and diabetes without chronic complications (n = 77, 19.3%) were the most prevalent comorbidities. A higher proportion of patients had no comorbidity with CCI (72.2%) than with ECI (44.8%).Conclusion:It is feasible to construct a comorbidity index using medical records with high accuracy, especially when we extract comorbidities using the CCI. Further studies are needed to understand the association between comorbidity index and breast cancer survival among Iranian patients.

Comprehensive assessment of Libya’s health information system 2017

This report presents the findings of a comprehensive assessment of Libya’s health information system undertaken by WHO in 2017 at the request of the Ministry of Health of Libya. Health information systems including civil registration and vital statistics systems provide health information data for programme and performance monitoring quality of care planning and policy-making. The assessment resulted in a set of recommendations for the Ministry and other stakeholders to develop comprehensive and efficient systems to: monitor health risks and determinants; track health status and outcomes including cause-specific mortality; and assess health system performance. The recommendations also provide an opportunity for the country to respond to the growing demands for health data to measure progress towards the healthrelated Sustainable Development Goals.

Comprehensive assessment of Iraq’s health information system 2019

This report presents the findings of a comprehensive assessment of Iraq’s health information system undertaken by WHO in 2019 at the request of the Ministry of Health and Environment. Health information systems including civil registration and vital statistics systems provide health information data for programme and performance monitoring quality of care planning and policy-making. The assessment resulted in a set of recommendations to enable the Ministry of Health and Environment and other stakeholders to develop comprehensive and efficient systems to monitor health risks and determinants; track health status and outcomes including cause-specific mortality; and assess health system performance. The recommendations also provide an opportunity for the country to respond to the growing demands for health data to measure progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals

Comprehensive assessment of Jordan’s health information system 2016

This report presents the findings of a comprehensive assessment of Jordan’s health information system undertaken by WHO in 2016 at the request of the Ministry of Health. Health information systems including civil registration and vital statistics systems provide health information data for programme and performance monitoring quality of care planning and policy-making. The assessment resulted in a set of recommendations to enable the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to develop comprehensive and efficient systems to monitor health risks and determinants; track health status and outcomes including cause-specific mortality; and assess health system performance. The recommendations also provide an opportunity for the country to respond to the growing demands for health data to measure progress towards the health related Sustainable Development Goals

Meeting of the countries of the South-eastern Europe Health Network on improving information for policy: strengthening health information and vital registration systems: Tirana, Albania, 16–17 November 2015

The countries of the South-eastern Europe Health Network met in Tirana, Albania on 16–17 November 2015 to discuss improving information for policy. The aim of the meeting was to enable partner countries to discuss their most critical common issues in health information and to contribute to a joint vision of how to address these issues collectively. Acknowledging the substantial benefits of establishing a health information network, the countries agreed to meet again in 2016, with the technical and strategic support of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, to decide on a possible model and ways of working.