Evidence Based Health Policy Making: Bangladesh shows its way forward
With European Union (EU) support, icddr,b is working closely with the Directorate General Health Services (DGHS), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to enhance the capacity and skills of policy programme managers in the health sector so that they can easily access, assess, evaluate, adapt and apply research evidence in their settings to ensure evidence based health policy making in Bangladesh. After successful piloting of capacity building in Health Systems Research & Evidence-informed Public Health Policy Making, DGHS and icddr,b have started countrywide training programme for health managers. icddr,b is going to develop systematic review Centre at the Department of Public Health and Informatics of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a public health research and academic institute in Bangladeshin order to train human resource for systematic review and meta-analysis in the areas of non-communicable diseases and urban poor. Developing a national resource pool on systematic review is also another priority area of intervention.
Reliable health data is directly linked with people’s health care. District Health Information System (DHIS2) software is being used to collect and analyse aggregate data from government run health facilities. With European Union support, icddr,b is supporting DGHS to generate flawless health data from different tiers of health facilities through this unique IT based health information system which will contribute in transforming data into evidence informed health policy making.
In line with ‘Digital Bangladesh’ vision of present Government of Bangladesh, one of the significant changes that have happened in health sector is transforming paper based health reporting system into electronic health information system, and another one is initiating medical record system through Open MRS software. Both initiatives are taking place in government run health facilities under the supervision of the DGHS of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in collaboration with different development partners like icddr,b, GIZ, UNICEF, and DFID.
It is a fact that fragmented health system consists of public sector, private and non-profit NGO run health facilities is often a barrier to get reliable data on the health status of the population. Data quality issue, duplication and redundancy of data are also areas of concern. That’s why DGHS has established a national data warehouse where electronic data from various health service providers and health programmes can be better coordinated and harmonised. Here District Health Information System (DHIS) software is being used to collect and analyse aggregate data from government run health facilities. Open MRS system is being piloted in several health facilities to systematically organize individual patients records under hospital automation process. This unique IT based health information system is strengthening the flow of information among service providers from tertiary level up to community level, and on the other hand it has paved the way for taking up shared responsibility for improving public health facilities and health outcomes eventually. A great deal of work is being done in relation to developing IT infrastructures, software development, revitalizing Research Policy Communication Cell, staff deployment and capacity building training where icddr,b, European Union, UNICEF, GIZ, DFID and other development partners are working closely with government to strengthen capacities of health facilities. This shared responsibility in capacity building activities has created an extraordinary opportunity for Bangladesh to generate flawless health data from different tiers of health facilities, transforming data into evidence informed health policy making, and tracking health status of population following set indicators and health facility resources.
It is to note that with EU support, icddr,b is also advocating for South South Collaboration where developing countries can share their experience and lessons learned in health policy making. icddr,b has partnered with University College London to strengthen multi-media and public engagement activities so that understanding of health evidence can be transmitted in policy decision making. Here collective efforts are developing a think tank that promotes high level analysis and dialogue for policy influence.
Recently Line Directors Workshop on the challenges of Health SDGs indicators and 4th Sector Programme was held in the month of January 2016 at DGHS facilitated by Prof. Dr.Abul Kalam Azad, Additional Director General (Admin) and Line Director MIS, DGHS. In this workshop, the Line Directors discussed about “the Global Reference List,” which is a standard set of 100 core indicators to provide concise information on the health situation and trends, including responses at national and global levels. Under the leadership of DGHS, health data management from all health facilities is playing important role in health reporting system which will create desired accountability and transparency in the performance of health sector. All Line Directors of DGHS pointed out the significance of health data management through DHIS-2 software and emphasized on health data generation and data interpretation towards evidence- based health policy making in Bangladesh. Such enthusiasm and collective efforts among government officials and development partners prove that Bangladesh is going to be a bright example through this systematic health information and capacity building initiatives which contributes in improving health outcomes through strengthening public health facilities.