The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance have partnered with DHIS2 to improve national immunization program coverage through better data collection, analysis and use
Since 2017, UiO has partnered with the WHO as a Collaborating Centre for Innovation and Implementation Research on HIS strengthening. Through this partnership, UiO has developed a suite of DHIS2 tools and metadata packages that support countries to adopt WHO immunization program standards into national HMIS.
More than 30 countries in Africa and Asia have installed the WHO recommended DHIS2 dashboard packages into their national HMIS. Along with the WHO Immunization Analysis App and WHO Data Quality Tool for DHIS2, these dashboard packages empower EPI program managers and district staff to identify gaps in immunization coverage, reduce stock wastage and monitor cold chain metrics and follow up on facility reports. Thanks in part to the use of DHIS2 analytics and data quality tools, some countries have achieved more than 98% completeness of their immunization data. Increasingly, countries are adopting DHIS2 tracker as an Electronic Immunization Registry (EIR) to improve adherence to the national vaccination schedule and reduce drop-out rates. These tools are designed with integration and sustainability at the forefront, underpinned by WHO recommendations to strengthen national HMIS through integration of immunization, health service delivery and other program data.
The DHIS2 toolkit for immunization includes the following apps and metadata packages, designed for modular implementation and adaptable to local program needs.
Includes WHO-recommended dashboards and indicators for analysis of routine immunization data reported from facilities. Dashboard package can be installed in a country’s existing DHIS2 and indicators mapped to existing data elements. Designed to accompany the WHO’s Analysis and Use of Facility Data Toolkit for EPI.
Includes standard metadata (data elements, indicators) and dashboards for routine reporting and analysis of immunization data, with a special focus on facility-level data. The package can be installed in a country’s HMIS and ensures alignment with WHO’s indicator framework.
An installable web app providing enhanced data visualizations to support the analysis and use of WHO-EPI programme data.
An installable web app for performing bottlneck analysis on your programs to identify, analyze, and resolve bottlenecks.
An installable web app for creating scorecards for immunization programs or other health interventions. Can be used alone, or in conjunction with the BNA app.
An installable web app that works in conjunction with the BNA and Scorecard apps, for tracking actions taken to address the root causes of bottlenecks.
Designed for clinicians and staff at health facilities. Enables tracking a child’s immunization history and provides decision support. Incorporates the WHO-recommended immunization schedule and can be adapted according to national policies / schedules. Includes program indicators that are autogenerated and pre-mapped to monthly facility reporting indicators included in the aggregate package.
Facilitates the reporting of AEFI events and data collection during the investigation of an adverse event. The package can be installed as standalone or as an add-on to the Immunization Registry package. AEFI Training material is available for this package.
Facilitates notification of births from health facilities with the goal of improving the completeness of birth, stillbirth and death registration in national CRVS systems. The package can be installed as standalone or as an add-on to the Immunization Registry package. Watch our short video for an overview.
Supports weekly IDSR (Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response) reporting for notifiable diseases. VPD aggregate is similar to the weekly IDSR that many countries in Africa already use with DHIS2. The package helps standardize using WHO definitions.
Enables longitudinal capture of case data, linking clinical, laboratory and case outcome data to a case. The tracker currently supports 9 diseases and can be expanded to capture additional diseases.
Supports the planning and execution of large-scale immunization / vaccination campaigns.
Additional metadata packages are being developed for mapping of cold-chain logistics and integrated analytics between health service data and supply chain information.
Download: Metadata files are available on the WHO package downloads page.
As part of an integrated HMIS, new interventions such as the malaria vaccine are also supported in DHIS2 as part of an integrated immunization module and can be triangulated with routine malaria surveillance data.
DHIS2-based immunization systems can also be rapidly adapted to meet the needs of emerging health crises. As a recent example, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed the DHIS2 toolkit for COVID-19 vaccine delivery, which expanded field-tested designs and tools from the WHO DHIS2 immunization data toolkit to enable countries to rapidly update existing DHIS2 systems to support the equitable delivery of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines at scale.
With support from Gavi, WHO AFRO, and UiO, HealthEnabled produced a guide to support countries that intend to use DHIS2 for immunization-related activities. This guide presents relevant information that can inform the implementation of DHIS2 for immunization through learning from other country experiences, by providing a review of published literature on the use of DHIS2 for immunization program management, as well as a listing of helpful resources on facility-based data, data quality, interoperability, electronic registry using DHIS2, case-based surveillance and reporting on VPDs, vaccine supply chain information systems, bottleneck analysis and scorecards, DHIS2 and birth notifications, Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI), immunization campaign monitoring and other general DHIS2 resources.
Learn more: The Guide to DHIS2 and Immunization Evidence and Resources is available in PDF format. Download the Guide
Here are just a few examples from a selection of countries that show how DHIS2 can make an impact in management of immunization programs.
Rwanda uses the DHIS2 EPI Tracker to help the EPI program decision makers to plan and monitor the vaccination activities across the country, improve birth notification and vaccination schedule compliance, and improve vaccination coverage overall.
The Government of Bangladesh and UNICEF exceeded vaccination targets and streamlined processes using DHIS2 for planning, monitoring, and follow-up for their MR mass campaign, including supervision with the DHIS2 Android Capture App.
Uganda used DHIS2 dashboards at a national command center, using real-time data visualization to coordinate a country-wide Measles-Rubella and Polio mass immunization campaign that targeted vaccination of 18 million children for measles-rubella and and 8 million for polio.
DHIS2 has been effectively used to manage immunization data in Nigeria since 2014, which has helped make it easier to compare indicators across counties, improved reporting completeness rates, and contributed to data-driven decision making.
Ghana first deployed the DHIS2 Immunization e-Tracker in 2016, and uses the DHIS2 Immunization Dashboards at the national, district and sub district levels. This has resulted in more effective data use in managing immunization programs, helped guide decision making and aided in planning.
The transition to the DHIS2 for EPI reporting in Togo resulted in large improvements in EPI reporting timeliness–from only 38.2% of reports submitted on time in 2019 to 83% in 2019–as well as improvements in reporting completeness.
The Community of Practice (CoP) is the primary forum for DHIS2 discussion and support. There, you can read, discuss, and share user stories and best practices, raise and help resolve questions and issues, and connect with other members of the global DHIS2 immunization community. Visit the CoP Immunization forum to join the conversation.
In partnership with Gavi, HISP UiO hosts a quarterly webinar series on DHIS2 for Immunization. Each webinar covers a different topic, including details on the latest metadata packages and tools and real-world experiences from implementers and experts in the field. Webinars are offered in English and French.
To get announcements about upcoming webinars, sign up for our mailing list and join the DHIS2 Community of Practice. You can watch recordings from previous webinars on the DHIS2 YouTube channel.
Work on DHIS2 immunization packages and resources has been done in collaboration with–and with the financial support of–our international partners: The World Health Organization, UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
