Using Togaf for Building a National Implementation Strategy for E-Health Services and Technologies in Burundi

Abstract

In order to better align existing and future ICT implementations in the health domain with the strategic options defined by the National Plan for Health Development, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Burundi initiated in 2014 the development of a national e-health enterprise architecture based on the TOGAF methodology. A first part of the development cycle consisted of a detailed analysis of regulatory documents and strategic plans related to the Burundian health system. In a second part, semi-structured interviews were organized with a representative sample of relevant MoH health structures. The study demonstrated the donor driven unequal distribution of hardware equipment over health administration components and health facilities. Internet connectivity remains problematic and few health oriented business applications found their way to the Burundian health system. Paper based instruments remain predominant in Burundi's health administration. The study also identified a series of problems introduced by the uncoordinated development of health ICT in Burundi such as the lack of standardization, data security risks, varying data quality, inadequate ICT infrastructures, an unregulated e-health sector and insufficient human capacity. The results confirm the challenging situation of the Burundian health information system but they also expose a number of bright spots that provide hope for the future: a political will to reclaim MoH leadership in the health information management domain, the readiness to develop e-health education and training programs and the opportunity to capitalize the experiences with DHIS2 deployment, results based financing monitoring and hospital information management systems implementation.

Are socio-demographic factors associated with electronic Health Information System utilization?A cross sectional study of the District Health Information System -2 (DHIS-2) in Burundi

“…In Burundi, the DHIS-2 platform has been introduced in the health system since 2014 in order to strengthen the health system in data management and respond to both National Health Policy and National Plan for Health Development [11]. Regardless of the financial and technical efforts of the Ministry of Health and funding agencies to operationalize the DHIS-2 platform at local levels, the HIS is still facing many challenges such as: (i) utilization of paper-based system when collecting data in the health district offices and health facilities – this leads to several number of mistakes in data reporting system; and (ii) the lack of connection or network for data entry and reporting in such offices and facilities.…”