News & Updates

“As you can see, my boss and I are the only two health workers serving at this facility,” a nurse named Martha told us at a local dispensary in Tanzania’s remote Geita region. “I normally take charge of the facility in his absence,” she said. “It has always been a challenge reaching out to him for assistance in such moments. Due to lack of airtime credits, sometimes I just beep his number and wait for him to call back.” We talked with over 1,000...

This post originally appeared in TechCrunch . Deep in a rural village in India outside the city of Jhansi, children play on dirt roads where goats and cows roam. The humble and colorful homes have mud floors, and women collect drinking water from wells. All the sights and sounds are quintessential aspects of the region, with the exception of one feature—the use of smartphones to save lives. In this village, women healthcare workers, known as...

As the election dates have just been declared for Uttarakhand along with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur, this is as good a time as any to shine a spotlight on an exciting initiative Uttarakhand has embarked on. A new state formed in 2000 (which is fairly young in the Indian federal scheme of things), and its challenges are unique. From limited revenue sources (tourism, its mainstay, has taken a hit since the 2013 flash floods; hence it...

This week IntraHealth International announced the launch of the iHRIS Foundation , a new structure to manage the continuing growth of the iHRIS platform of open source health workforce information systems software and the global community that supports it. Developed by IntraHealth with funding from USAID beginning in 2006, iHRIS is now used by 24 countries to manage over one million health worker records. Health sector leaders use iHRIS data to...

We are happy to announce the iHRIS Foundation , a new structure to manage the continuing growth of iHRIS while ensuring that community needs are met. iHRIS has grown since its launch by IntraHealth International in 2006. iHRIS is presently installed in 24 countries with a handful of projects moving through the planning stages. Today, the iHRIS Community currently has nearly 300 active members on its Google Group and Slack Channels. Implementing...

Here’s some trivia to chew on: if Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India, were a country, it would rank among the most populous in the world. Population is widely held as a precious asset, particularly in a country with a young population like India. But to capitalise on that asset, one of the factors that needs to be put in place is health care distribution. Compared to our South Asian neighbours and Sub-Saharan African countries, and also...

West Africa’s Ebola outbreak reminds us that frontline health workers are a vital component of every health system, and structures must be put in place to continuously support them and their important work. The outbreak highlighted a critical need to establish a more robust communications and data collection system between health workers and their supervisors as they address priority health needs. Equipping health workers with the right kind of...

IntraHealth International and UNICEF launched the mHero platform in late 2014 in the midst of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Originally designed to help Ministries of Health connect with frontline health workers via SMS messages to collect and share information helpful for a rapid response to Ebola, mHero is now a tool embraced by Ministries of Health to support two-way communication for a wide-range of health services. mHero is different...

Ally Shaban doesn’t remember the exact moment he became extremely proud of his work. He just knows that his job developing applications is slowly building new opportunities for his country, Tanzania. “I help implement new technologies in Africa so one day I can proudly say to my children, ‘We are the ones who built these tools that made things run smoothly’,” he says. “I can be very proud of that.” The UN would argue Ally deserves to be proud...

The Global iHRIS Community will begin using the cloud-based collaboration tool Slack to augment its community communications. You can access Slack on your phone, from a web-browser as well as directly on your computer. The Global iHRIS Google Group will remain the principal communication tool allowing community members to share news, pose questions and receive feedback. “Sometimes email is too cumbersome when there needs to be a lot of back and...