A Study to Explore the Health Information System in Sri Lanka

Health information systems (HIS) are important for planning policies, programs and monitoring their impact of them. Finding data sources quickly for effective utilization of collected information is of vital importance in handling any HIS. With the starting of civil registration in 1868 Sri Lankan HIS has been developed and expanded covering many more important areas and having been utilized for health system improvement. The objective of this study was to explore the Sri Lankan HIS and identify the areas that need to be improved as a reliable information source. This qualitative study was done using a purposive sample of officials from the Ministry of Health, Medical Statistics Unit and Registrar General Department as well as reviewing all the relevant accessible reliable literature. Sri Lankan health information systems can be categorized into two subsystems: population-based and facility/Institutional based. Population-based HIS includes household surveys regularly conducted by the Department of Census and Statistic (DCS), and civil registration which is under the Department of Registrar General (RGD). Facility-based HIS includes information from curative and preventive sector institutions such as clinical, health, and management information systems. Findings revealed although the birth and death coverage is high, quality of cause of death information is still a major problem. Some non-functioning systems as scheduled, under-reporting, duplication of data collection were identified as major issues. Many initiatives are suggested to improve the quality of cause of death information, including training regarding medical certification of cause of death based on ICD10 for the relevant officers and use of verbal autopsy procedure. Regulation of information surveillance from one focal point was recommended by the study to prevent duplication and resource wasting and optimal utilization of gathered data