MA4Health Conference and Marketplace organized successfully in Dhaka
Health Information System platform is central to evidence informed, responsive decision making for better public health policies and programs. “Sharing information, knowledge and experience through engagement and collaboration for better health outcomes" - this slogan welcomed visitors of the Marketplace with festive display promoting best practices of Health Information Systems and e‐Health solutions organized by DGHS and EU supported 'SHARE' project of icddr,b. This marketplace was a part of the MA4Health/Inter-Country Measurement and Accountability Conference hosted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. In the marketplace, different e-health solutions were showcased to streamline MIS tools and improve data quality issues. The conference brought together ministers from governments, leaders from the private sector, civil society, media and multilateral organizations, academia and funding agencies. This conference has created opportunities for coordinating approaches and sharing knowledge and ideas on developing operational plans and roadmaps for implementation of management information system. More than 150 participants including 70 foreign delegates attended the event at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka from 26th to 28th April, 2016. Last day (April 28) was dedicated for field trip where conference attendees were able to visit different existing health information systems of health facilities in Dhaka and neighboring districts of Bangladesh.
The objective of the conference was to facilitate the regional and country response to data needs, including strengthening country capacity to monitor and review progress, enhancing existing and establishing new regional approaches, building consensus on monitoring health strategies and the SDGs, and enhancing technical collaboration. Engaging development partners to improve health data systems was necessitated while establishing new ways of working with development partners and sharing knowledge and tools within the region.
Dr. JAAP Koot, Team Leader, EU Programme Monitoring of the ‘Supporting Public Health Institutes’ attended the conference and Ms. Nadia Rashid, Senior Programme Officer attended the conference from European Union team. While speaking in a session of the conference, Dr. Jaap Koot appreciated the initiative and commented, ‘This conference and marketplace created opportunity for learning from the experience of countries in the region, with regard to e-health solutions and health information system’.