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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 Gombe State, Nigeria, IDEAS uses a results framework with six-monthly data-driven learning workshops to support the Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation implementation projects.

In West Bengal, India, IDEAS supported district health decision-making through a prototype phase of the Data-Informed Platform for Health (DIPH) – 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.

IDEAS is using an action-research approach to adapt, implement and evaluate the Data-Informed Platform for Health for the Ethiopian context.

Report
DIPH 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

News
External evaluation report of the DIPH prototype phase

The evaluation aimed to understand the mechanisms and processes of the DIPH strategy for inter-sectoral data sharing and data-informed...

General India Supporting local decision-making Local data use Research findings Scale-up
Report
External Evaluation Report – DIPH Prototype Phase

The prototype phase pilot-tested the DIPH strategy and job-aids by bringing together key district-level data on inputs and processes from...

General India Supporting local decision-making Evidence for policy and practice Local data use Research findings Scale-up
News
Vacancy at IDEAS

The selected candidate will work in close collaboration with the IDEAS Ethiopia country team and multidisciplinary stakeholders to coordinate and...

Ethiopia Supporting local decision-making Evidence for policy and practice Local data use
News
Filling the gaps – supporting excellence in Ethiopian research

The in-service training for thirty EPHI staff, with participants from each directorate, organised by the Health System & Reproductive Health...

Ethiopia Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Capacity strengthening Local data use
Blog Post
Slow and steady – validating health data in Gombe State line by line

As an output from our first data quality learning workshop in March 2017, LGA M&E officers and MNCH coordinators were excited about revitalizing...

Nigeria Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Understanding quality improvement Evidence for policy and practice Local data use
News
“To know what is happening to women and newborns you need to collect accurate information” Preparing for a health facility survey in Nigeria

One way to measure whether the partner projects that IDEAS works with are making a difference is by continuously checking in with the people and...

Nigeria Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Capacity strengthening Evaluation methods Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Intervention coverage
News
Strengthening the measurement of key health indicators in Ethiopia

Like many other countries, Ethiopia has gaps in their Health Management Information System (HMIS), as well as insufficient mechanisms for data...

Ethiopia Community-based newborn care Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Capacity strengthening
Blog Post
Better quality routine health data through a WhatsApp group? What comes out of the Data Quality Workshops in Gombe State

To strengthen the quality of routine maternal and newborn health data in Gombe State in 2017 the IDEAS project initiated a total of four data...

Nigeria Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Local data use
News
Welcome to the new IDEAS website

The IDEAS project aims to improve the health and survival of mothers and babies through generating evidence to inform policy and practice in...

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