Ngwakongnwi Emmanuel, Atanga Mary Bi Suh, Quan Hude
University of Calgary , Doha, Qatar.
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bamenda , Cameroon.
J Public Health Afr. 2014 Mar 17;5(1):322. doi: 10.4081/jphia.2014.322. eCollection 2014 Feb 4.
In the early 90s, the Cameroon Ministry of Health implemented a National Health Information System (NHIS) based on a bottom-up approach of manually collecting and reporting health data. Little is known about the implementation and functioning of the NHIS. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of the NHIS by documenting experiences of individual stakeholders, and to suggest recommendations for improvement. We reviewed relevant documents and conducted face-to-face interviews (N=4) with individuals directly involved with data gathering, reporting and storage. Content analysis was used to analyze textual data. We found a stalled and inefficient NHIS characterized by general lack of personnel, a labor-intensive process, delay in reporting data, much reliance on field staff, and lack of incentives. A move to an electronic health information system without involving all stakeholders and adequately addressing the issues plaguing the current system is premature.
20世纪90年代初，喀麦隆卫生部实施了一项国家卫生信息系统（NHIS），该系统基于自下而上的方式手动收集和报告卫生数据。人们对国家卫生信息系统的实施和运作了解甚少。本研究的目的是通过记录各利益相关方的经历来评估国家卫生信息系统的实施情况，并提出改进建议。我们查阅了相关文件，并与直接参与数据收集、报告和存储的人员进行了面对面访谈（N = 4）。采用内容分析法对文本数据进行分析。我们发现国家卫生信息系统停滞不前且效率低下，其特点是普遍缺乏人员、流程劳动强度大、数据报告延迟、过度依赖现场工作人员以及缺乏激励措施。在未让所有利益相关方参与且未充分解决困扰当前系统的问题的情况下转向电子健康信息系统为时过早。
