To achieve national and international strategic goals, countries are advised to assess the maturity status of their health information systems (HIS), including business continuity and interoperability. This work aims to determine the existing maturity status of the Ethiopian HIS, set HIS improvement goals, and inform a path towards an improved national HIS by the end of 2024. This assessment was a collaborative and transparent process that was carried out with the engagement of all key stakeholders through consultation, using the Stages of Continuous Improvement (SOCI) tool.
The findings show that the overall maturity level of the Ethiopian HIS is 2.68, which is between the repeatable and defined maturity stages. Enforcement of policies and legislation, data exchange among systems, and information and communication technology infrastructure business continuity planning are the main challenges of Ethiopian HIS requiring further investment. Strengthened and collaborative effort is critical to reaching the desired goal of “managed” HIS (stage 4) in the country by 2024.
Authors: Amanuel Biru, Dawit Birhan, Gemechis Melkamu, Abebaw Gebeyehu, and Afrah Mohammedsanni Omer.
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