DHIS2 platform

Knut Staring, PhD

DHIS History
1997: DHIS1 in Western Cape Province, South Africa
2000: DHIS1 becomes national system in South Africa
2006: First DHIS 2 implementation in Kerala, India
2010: First national online DHIS2 implementation in Kenya
2012: PSI adopts DHIS 2
Multi-country systems
2013: MSF adopts DHIS 2
External contributions, dev team collaboration
2013: PEPFAR adopts DHIS 2
Partner reporting, data approval
2015: NGO adoption taking off
DHIS 2 is a Platform, not a system

○ Supports capture, management and analysis of

information

○ Flexible data platform. Each organization build their OWN

system on top of it (similar to e.g. Salesforce, SAP etc)

○ Open source => local ownership and control, capacity

building, and community support

○ Extensible through APIs and apps

Supporting national scale systems
DHIS2 Academy

2 master level courses

12 academies worldwide in 2015
- Capacity building for Super users and Developers,
- Sharing of experiences

677 participants
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Goa, India Lagos, Nigeria

Lomé, Togo Oslo, Norway Manesar, India

Livingstone, Zambia Da Nang, Vietnam Bloemfontein, SA

dhis2.org/academy
 DHIS 2 Academy
○ Regional workshops
○ Share experiences across countries
○ Learn about new functionality and advanced use

Basic DHIS 2
Academy,
Vietnam
February 2014
DHIS2 Country Team
Effective use of information depends upon a good and solid
design of indicators and other metadata, especially as
requirements are bound to change over time, in order to
ensure sustainability and interoperability.  

To make sure countries build up the necessary technical

capacity to successfully coordinate run and maintain DHIS2
over time, we suggest the establishment of DHIS2 Country
Teams (DCTs).
Enabling the innovation cycle

Beyond capacity building

at educational level
Open source software
development done in a
global network
Enable App development
for local innovation
 Open and Interoperable Platform

Expert Tools DHIS 2 Analytics

DHIS 2
Data Repository
Web APIs Mobile
Collection

eMedical Human
Records Resource

DHIS 2 Data Capture Apps Transactional Systems

 Extensibility through Apps

○ Extend with
specific features

○ Utilize external
development Installed Apps Core Apps
resources

○ Create features DHIS 2

without forking
core system
○ KISS and scalability
○ Ubiquity
○ Scope network effects
○ National Platforms + Regional/Global
○ FB, Google, Twitter
Three types of Apps

Web App Integrations Android App

(desktop or mobile) (offline)
 DHIS 2 Data Types

Aggregate data Events Tracking

Immunization doses given Facility assessments Provider follow-up

People trained in FP Clinical visit Maternal health

Refugees supported Educational event Equipment, drugs

 DHIS 2 Data Capture

DHIS 2

SMS USSD Android Desktop

 Tabular Capture

• User Interface follows paper registers

Tabular DE app
Case listing
Integrated Analysis of Data & Events

DHIS 2 Analytics

Routine data Events Tracking

Flexible, Do-it-Yourself Configuration
 Custom Web
Connector

[YouTube]
GIS: External layers
Self-service Dashboards & Analysis
Surveillance functionality

Predictors for generating future data

Scheduled validation jobs

Alerts and notifications on SMS & email

Events for outbreak management

Used / supported by global / regional / US organizations

World Health Organization - Malaria, DQA tool

Global Fund - Support in 10+ countries
PEPFAR - DATIM
CDC - Global Health Security
USAID - Nigeria PEPFAR reporting
UNAIDS - National HIV programs
UNICEF - Data use in countries
East African Community (EAC)
Implemented in 60+ countries (national standard in 20)

HMIS - 40+ countries

Health programs - HIV, TB, Malaria
Facility surveys - SA Core Standards, WHO SARA
Disease surveillance - CDC Global Health Security
IDSR - Tanzania, Nigeria
Case-based registers - Ghana, Kenya
Water and sanitation - Zambia, DRC
Tracking of pregnant women and children - Uganda, India
Tracking of TB patients - Rwanda
Facility registry - OpenHIE
Licensing of medical doctors - Vietnam
 DHIS 2 Adoption

Partners Pilot/early phase Scaling up Nation-wide rollout

Customization without programming
• Organization hierarchy - any number of levels
• Specify forms
• Define indicators
• User roles and groups for sharing
• Dashboards, including charts, tables, maps ++
• Define analysis and reports with custom dimensions
Development Teams

16 core developers

2 technical writers

3 core development teams

Vietnam India US Norway