News & Updates

I am only attending the Global Health Council Conference for today, unfortunately, but I was at two great sessions this morning. I'm going to highlight the key points in this post and the next, and I hope my colleagues will pick up where I left off for the remainder of the conference.The first session was called "Transformations: Discovering New Strategies Using Proven Technologies," but it was really all about mobile health (or mHealth, if you...

If you are attending the Global Health Council Conference, please plan to stop by the Capacity Project's auxiliary event on Wednesday evening: Using Better Data, Making Better Decisions. It is being held in the Ambassador Ballroom on May 27 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Incentives: refreshments, a chance to win an iPod Touch and a flash drive giveaway with the Toolkit and software (supplies limited).I will be there to demonstrate and answer questions about...

Please plan to join us for one or more of the events we have planned for Global Health Council's 36th Annual Conference this week. This is a great opportunity to meet members of the HRIS strengthening team, learn more about the HRIS software we have developed and learn how our efforts are improving countries' ability to meet health care needs. Health Workforce: Using Better Data, Making Better Decisions Wednesday, May 27, 5:30-7:30 pm, Ambassador...

Wednesday, May 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m. The Omni Shoreham Hotel Ambassador BallroomThe Capacity Project will present an interactive expo as an auxiliary event at the Global Health Council conference in Washington, DC.Participants will have the opportunity to: Experience useful resources and tools Engage in hands-on demonstrations of the Project’s technology solutions Learn about countries’ successes and challenges View a short film about Uganda’s...

Dr. Pamela McQuide will share IntraHealth’s experience in strengthening human resources information systems (HRIS) during a panel session at the 36th International Conference on Global Health on May 29, 2:30–4:15, in Washington, DC. The panel, Health Workforce: Addressing the Crisis, will be moderated by IntraHealth’s Anne Wilson, director of the Capacity Project.Doctors, nurses and other health professionals form the backbone of a country's...

IntraHealth International will highlight its commitment to leveraging technology to benefit the people of the developing world during the 36th annual International Conference on Global Health in Washington D.C., May 26-30. Hosted by the Global Health Council, this year's conference, "New Technologies + Proven Strategies = Healthy Communities," focuses on the ways in which technologies in combination with best practices and evidence-based policies...

In March and April, a Capacity Project evaluation team conducted qualitative interviews with 18 key informants at the central and district levels involved in strengthening Rwanda’s human resources information system (HRIS) using the Capacity Project’s iHRIS Manage software. The open source software has been customized to meet Rwanda’s specific needs. Preliminary results indicate that despite initial hurdles, including unforeseen server issues and...

The Capacity Project, in collaboration with the East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) Health Community and WHO, conducted the “Africa Regional Meeting on Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS): Taking Stock, Sharing Lessons and Setting the Agenda for the Future” on April 20-24 in Arusha, Tanzania. Over 50 HR managers and technology experts represented ten countries where the Capacity Project has been working to strengthen HRIS, joined by...

To prevent problems during data entry, the data should be categorized in a consistent, standard way. Data coding is the process of classifying data in preparation for later analysis. Before any data collection takes place, stakeholders and HRIS managers should spend time developing a coding structure to organize the data in the system. This data-coding structure should reflect the way the health system is organized in real life, such as how...

A key first step in our HRIS strengthening process is to establish a leadership group of all stakeholders in the system, which includes all producers and consumers of HR information. In many cases, these people -- who are drawn from diverse government ministries as well as outside groups such as professional associations, training institutions and private sector health organizations -- are meeting and talking on a regular basis for the first time...