DHIS

The DHIS (District Health Information System) is an open source software tool designed for collecting, validating, analyzing, and presenting aggregate statistical data. Developed orginally in South Africa for use in district health offices, it is now used in many countries around the world at district, province, and even national levels.

DHIS 2 is developed by HISP which is a global south-south-north collaborative network aiming at better health care in developing countries through the combination of research on and implementation of health information systems. HISP is coordinated by the Global Infrastructures Research Group, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway,

DHIS 2 was designed to manage aggregate health data, but it is sufficiently flexible to be used for other applications. It contains features that make it possible for each country to configure the data model and user interface to meet country-specific needs without requiring software programming skills. DHIS 2 and upwards is a modular web-based software package built with free and open source Java frameworks.

RTI is working with DHIS as part of national health information system strengthening efforts in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has deployed DHIS nationally. RTI is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to strengthen the capacity to use the DHIS effectively to improve health care management and policy at all levels. Zimbabwe's new mobile-phone-based disease surveillence system, developed with RTI technical assistance, is providing aggregate data to the DHIS.

Tanzania deployed DHIS 1 in five pilot districts between 200 and 2006, and begin deploying DHIS2 at the district level in 2008. Tanzania has configured DHIS 2 to include data entry , analysis, and reporting of data for STI, VCT, and prevention of other to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS. DHIS 2 is the backbone of HMIS technical strategy in Tanzania.