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Supporting local decision-making

Many countries have identified primary health care as an urgent priority, but they lack the data needed to pinpoint weaknesses, understand the causes of weakness and drive improvements.

Better data is essential to improve health outcomes, yet routinely available data for the monitoring of progress are often of low quality. Even where rich data sources are available, there can be limited capacity to synthesise, interpret and learn from the data.

IDEAS works to support local decision-making in Nigeria, Ethiopia and India.

In Nigeria, IDEAS has worked with the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency and partners to implement six-monthly Data-driven Learning Workshops designed to continuously examine progress and promote data-informed decision making.

In Ethiopia, building on lessons learned during a prototype phase in West Bengal, India, IDEAS implements the Data-Informed Platform for Health (DIPH). – The DIPH is a structured method combining a toolkit with facilitated discussions and action planning. This involves a five-step cycle running every 3-4 months at district level. Standardized job-aids facilitate linking of input and process data from health and other sectors onto a common data-sharing platform. Government and non-government stakeholders analyse the data, identify challenges and gaps and agree on measures to be taken to resolve issues.

Report
Data Informed Platform for Health – training handbook

It also elaborates on the operationalisation and cyclical implementation of the Data-Informed Platform for Health at the district level. The target audience for this handbook are district health officers, both in administrative and managerial roles within the health systems. Part A of the handbook covers the four core...

Ethiopia General Supporting local decision-making Local data use
Research brief
Introducing the Data-Informed Platform for Health

What is a Data-Informed Platform for Health? In low-resource settings the use of local data for health system planning and decision-making is often limited. What data there is may be of poor quality and a data sharing culture is lacking. Health administrators often have limited capacity to analyse and use data for...

India Supporting local decision-making Capacity strengthening Local data use

Published content

Blog Post
Monitoring the quality of care for Nigerian mothers and newborns using DHIS2

This blog was written by Antoinette Bhattacharya from the IDEAS team and first published on the HNN blog. Working with the government of...

Nigeria Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Evidence for policy and practice Local data use Research findings
News
A conversation about DHIS2

IDEAS team member Krystyna Makowiecka speaks to Antoinette Bhattacharya about the work she has done in Gombe to look at the quality of routine...

Nigeria Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Evidence for policy and practice Local data use Research findings
Blog Post
How have data-driven learning workshops contributed to the work of the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency and its partners in enhancing the health of women and newborns in the State?

The partnership involved in these workshops comprises the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (the Agency), four national NGOs –...

Nigeria Supporting local decision-making Evidence for policy and practice Local data use Research findings
Report
Strengthening the quality of routine MNCH data through learning workshops

Quality routine health data provide useful program monitoring information to identify gaps and take action to improve performance. Under the...

Nigeria Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Capacity strengthening Evidence for policy and practice Local data use Research findings
Blog Post
Collaborative Learning in Gombe

Gombe State Data-Driven Learning Workshops In January 2016, the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (the Agency), four national...

Nigeria Supporting local decision-making Behaviour change Capacity strengthening Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects
News
Recruiting a Research Assistant

The post-holder will coordinate action research on the Data Informed Platform for Health (DIPH), a district-level data-sharing, evidence-based...

Ethiopia Supporting local decision-making Local data use
Blog Post
Who decides what and how? Making decision-making in health systems more effective

In the past, researchers have preferred to target policy-makers – to understand their perspective, develop supportive approaches and tools, and...

Ethiopia General India Supporting local decision-making Evidence for policy and practice Local data use Scale-up
News
Celebrating 8 years of IDEAS

Just a few weeks before this exciting milestone the IDEAS team from London, Ethiopia and Nigeria came together for a team retreat to hear from...

Ethiopia General India Nigeria Community-based newborn care Fostering innovation sustainability Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Understanding quality improvement
News
IDEAS at #HSR2018

New evidence presented as posters (above) included: Sustainability for a Village Health Worker scheme in Nigeria Availability of routine facility...

Ethiopia General India Nigeria Community-based newborn care Fostering innovation sustainability Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Understanding quality improvement Behaviour change Capacity strengthening Context Economics Evaluation methods Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Implementation strength
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