Abstract:
Data collected, processed into Information through the application of health Information Systems (HIS) is essential for monitoring, health care, and for evaluating and improving the delivery health care services and programmes. In Kenya, there is a rapid growing need for better health care services, equity and accounting especially from donors who found major segments of health-care programmes which require modern technology to process increasing amount of data in health sector . The purpose of the study was to review the existing status of Health Information Systems in Kenya in terms of policy and guidelines, legislative and regulatory, data quality by using Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in collection, process, preserve, disseminate, manage and use it in timely manner. The specific objectives were, to: examine the history of HIS through the existing primary and secondary literature; assess the existing strategies and come up with recommendations in strengthening the HIS; establish the challenges faced in the development of HIS and to propose some recommendations, solutions to the problems and the way forward. A literature search was done through Google scholar, health related sites like Medline including websites from the Ministry of Health. Data from various sources like reports, strategic plans, policy documents, medical journal articles were retrieved, examined and reviewed. Thematic areas such as background of HIS, data quality, legislative strategies were identified. Analysis was done using SPSS package. The study revealed that major time lag between when information was reported and when it was received at the National level by stakeholders for their decision making was a major problem. It was also found that at the county level, users relied mostly on wireless modems which many a times experience low bandwidth availability yet it had to transmit relatively bulky excel files to head quarters. The study recommends that there is need to have a legislation to regulate health care data collections and integration among all the stakeholders so that health care data can be shared nationally by all health –care facilities in the county.
