Summary
The project overall aim was to assess the readiness of the health system across Uganda to successfully adopt an electronic health record (EHR) data capture system in an exemplar infectious disease area that can be used to support both care locally and interventions nationally. The study explored the readiness of malaria and HIV as potential demonstrator conditions for an EHR data capturing and processing system infrastructure. Additionally, the study investigated analytical methods that could support Uganda's Ministry of Health and related health institutions to provide responsive care and interventions based on real-time surveillance.
The study adopted a mixed-method research design where questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups were used to obtain responses from the study participants. This study was conducted in 13 districts in the four regions of Uganda, namely, Northern, Eastern, Western and Central regions.
Our findings revealed that Electronic Health Records (EHRs) / Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) were perceived as being valuable and would enable sharing of information in real-time from different parts of the country. However, the lack of importance given to data in decision making, corruption, insecurity, training and poor infrastructure were major challenges to implementing EHR/EMR systems; but that strong leadership and clear policy direction coupled with the financial support to acquire essential technology, improve the communication network, and provide training for staff could help to promote implementation.