Background

One of the six building blocks of health systems is a sound and reliable health information system (HIS). Key attributes of the health information system are not only generation of reliable data but also critical utilization of this data for decision-making. Many health related programs often fail to reach optimal success because they fall short of efficient use of data to inform decisions. There is limited evidence to suggest that effective use of RHIS leads to better value of the data generated by the health workers, improvement in the quality of health care and in providing support to program planning, implementation and decision making.

Despite several initiatives and numerous health information systems, overall data utilization in health sectors in India has been found to be very low. This inadequacy, in the long term, can affect the motivation of the health professionals which has a critical influence on the performance of the program. Data analysis skills have shown to be strongly related to data use. This is an opportune moment to invest in RHIS given the momentum surrounding the SDGs. Given this context, we propose a capacity building workshop for
healthcare professionals that not only provides a basic orientation of the concepts and principles of RHIS, but also generates an interest to motivate the use of data for operational and strategic decision making.