Health Information Systems Integration in Tanzania: Tapping the contextual advantages

Fragmentation has for long been a characteristic of Health Information Systems (HIS) in the developing countries with many studies expounding about a variety of drawbacks brought by the same. There have been, so far, many academic fronts through which fragmentation has been addressed and this study addresses fragmentation and eventually integration through the Vertical Health Programmes (VHP) which, more than once, proved difficult in Tanzania. This work argues that most of the initiatives towards integration did not optimally tape the contextual advantages. Empirical data for this study have been extracted from an on-going implementation of the project to strengthen Health Management Information System in Tanzania, in which this qualitative study was involved in the three regions of implementation. Data have been collected through supervision visits, meetings, discussions, structured and unstructured interviews and observations. It was found out that of the advantages is the existence of several shared elements across programmes which only require streamlining to achieve integration. Reproductive and Child Health programme, for example, shares 19 data elements with Malaria and 17 with Expanded Programme of Immunisation. There are also shared procedures and routines and even donors. This work goes further into suggesting an approach towards Integration.