See related articles by Biemba et al., Hazel et al., and O'Hagan et al.
Since the 1990s, knowledge and understanding of the role of health information on global health systems have markedly improved. Despite this, use of information for evidence-based decision making is still very weak in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and particularly for data produced by health facility and community information systems, also called routine health information systems (RHISs). Ill-defined information needs, major data quality issues, and centralization and fragmentation of health information systems are some of the root causes, leading to poor quality and use of routine information at all levels.
The Paris Declaration and initiatives such as the Health Metrics Network, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Sustainable Development Goals have triggered governments of LMICs to make the development of well-performing RHISs a high priority. In June 2015, at the Measurement and Accountability for Health Summit, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank called for action “to improve health facility and community information systems including disease and risk surveillance and financial and health workforce accounts, empowering decision makers at all levels with real-time access to information.”1
Based on this Health Summit, the Health Data Collaborative was created, which has a special focus on improving RHIS performance. WHO and the MEASURE Evaluation project, in collaboration with many university partners, have developed an …