WHO Support tool to strengthen health information systems

In the first presentation, a representative of the WHO Europe team who took part to the development of the “Support tool to strengthen health information systems: guidance for health information system assessment and strategy development” as part of the European Health Information Initiative (EHII), will introduce the tool and the relevance of performing health information system assessments to support Member States in strengthening their HIS. The 4 main guiding steps of the HIS tool (1. Perform an HIS assessment; 2. Develop an HIS vision; 3. Develop an HIS improvement plan; 4. Monitor progress and perform regular evaluations) will be outlined as well as the HIS assessment item sheet that guides the performing of an assessment, which consists of a core module and several add-on modules. The aim of the core module is to provide an overview of the functioning of the entire national HIS. The aim of the add-on modules is to shed more light on specific parts or functions of the national HIS. As the tool is in continuous development, the plans for the future will be outlined, including a short introduction to the new add-on modules that will be included in the tool.