Engaging Biostatisticians and HMIS focal persons to improve

logistics reporting. Lessons from Karamoja region.

Background: The Ministry of Health (MoH) through quantification,
procurement and planning units monitors the stock levels of all essential
medicines and health supplies (EMHS). This is to ensure that EMHS are
utilized efficiently and to minimize wastage due to expiry and overstock.
The department depends on the health facility monthly report (HMIS
105 section 6) to establish the current stock levels of 41 tracer EMHS.
However, by March 2022, only 9/150 (6%) of health facilities in the
Karamoja sub-region were completing this section of the HMIS 105.
This was mainly attributable to knowledge gap among the
biostatisticians and HMIS focal persons who support reporting of this
report section.
Methodology: USAID PACT- Karamoja supported onsite mentorship
for biostatisticians and HMIS focal persons from all the (9) districts in
Karamoja sub-region on data extraction from the stock cards and entry
into the HMIS 105 reporting template. These officers in turn supported
health facilities teams through monthly mentorship visits to the facilities.
HMIS 105 reports were reviewed before entry in to DHIS 2 for
completeness of section 6 data on logistics and timely feedback provided
to the facilities through phone calls.
Results: By September 2022, completeness of the HMIS 105 section 6
improved to 81%.
Lessons learnt: Supporting biostatisticians and HMIS focal persons is
critical in ensuring that logistics data is routinely entered into the
national system.