COMMUNITY BASED

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
BY J. HELLEN

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Objectives
Definition & understanding of HIS
Importance of HIS
Basic information for community health
Sources of Health information
Measuring dse in the community

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Health Information System
HIS - a system for collecting, processing, analyzing,
disseminating and using information about a health
service and the health needs of a pop it serves.
Community health information system - combinatio
of resources (Human, Material,financial) and systems
for collecting, processing, analysing, diseminating and
using information on the health of the community.
Goal of HIS – improve effectivenes & efficiency and ensure
more equitable delivery by CHW. Also used to make
more informed decisions that improve the quality of care

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Principles of Good HIS
Data collection to conform with data requirements
Information collected should be simple to obtain
Feedback on information provided is essential
Data to be used along all the levels

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Sources of health information
Local community
 local administration
Community elders & members of groups e.g
Women,youth, church and other interested groups
Teachers
Traditional healers
Health centre
Records, register for OPD,& inpatient
District Health offices – MOH about health situation
of district, special programmes eg MCH,TB,leprosy
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Sources …… continued
Ministry of Health VIA DMO on special dses eg
malaria,HIV/AIDS, labs, VCT, FP,
Other sources - planning office, DDO, other related
ministries eg agriculture, water
Surveys- if required information is missing,a
community survey can be organised.

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Importance of good records
Individual patient management –
 date of attendance, pt condition, treatment given
Information bout disease patterns –
 Show patterns and perhaps detect epidemics
Information for evaluation
Monthly, & annual and survey are used to evaluate
systems/programs

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Importance of good records
Individual patient management –
 date of attendance, pt condition, treatment given
Information bout disease patterns –
 Show patterns and perhaps detect epidemic
Information for evaluation
Monthly,annual and survey are used to evaluate
syastems/programs

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Community Diagnosis
Community diagnosis with active participation of
community members guide in identification of local
priorities.
 The priorities arrived at should be the felt needs of
the community so that the HCW should put their
efforts and resources.
Priorities be given to those dses &/ programmes for
which something effective & practical can be done.

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MEASURING DISEASES IN THE COMMUNITY
Numbers – counts of cases/absolute magnitude ; only those
that come to health facility
proportion – compares the count of cases(numerator) with
the total population(Denominator)’
 It weighs the magnitude of the reported numbers against possible
event in population
Rate – measure of occurrence of an event out of the possible
occurrences during a given time period
 most accurate & has both numerator, denominator and duration of
occurrence.
Ratios - is one number divided by an other, but the numbers
are not necessarily related as in proportions
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Terminologies used
Incidence – The No. of new cases in a defined
population
Prevalence – Cases that are present at a given time in
a given population(Both new & old)
Infant mortality rate (IMR) – measures all deaths
from all illness in a year
IMR = (Number of deaths of infants in one year ×100)
Number of live births in he same year

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Describing diseases and Health situations in
the community
 Study of distribution & frequency - Epidemiology;
deals with
What is the dse frequency,
who is ill – person,
where did they get it – Place
 when did they get ill – time
Who- Age, Sex, Income, Cultural & religious groups,
family size, Nutritional state, Immune status

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Describing dses continued
Where – town, village, isolated village, high or low altitude,
within access to healthy facility or not.

When – information about when dse starts and when the affected
visits the Hospital is necessary. This could be grouped to weeks,
days, months etc.

NB –
1. Before any intervention is put in place, the specific cause of the
dse must be identified
2. Aetiology of disease is multifactorial for dse control thus it calls
for multifaceted approach.
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COMMUNITY HEALTH INTERVENTIONS
Health promotion
Nutritional intervention
Immunization
Child spacing
Environmental Control
Health promotion – Dfn by Ottawa Charter (1986) as
the process of enabling people to increase control over
and to improve their Health.
Emphasis is on the role of participation of people and
community.
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 PROCESS OF HEALTH PROMOTION
Focus Strategies Impact Outcomes
Education Behavioural Bette Qualit
adaptations
Motivational r y of life
• Individuals,
Organizational Healt improv
• Groups,
Economic h ed
• population
Legislative adaptations
ntal
Technological Environme

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HEALTH PROMOTION APPROACHES
1. Behavior change approach
Also called information giving model where
information in relation to the risks and illness is
provided either in mass media, leaflets, or posters
2. Self empowerment approach –empowering
individuals to make healthy choices
3. Community development approach - addressing
socioeconomic and environmental causes of ill health.

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Nutrition and Health
Dfn: process through which food utilised by organism is
utilised through digecstion, absorption,transport,
storage, metaolism and elimination.
Good nutrition is basic to good health, thus import ant
for;
 Physical & mental devpt of all
Healthy pregnancies and deliveries
Resistance to infections
Prevent deficiency diseases.
Malnutrition can be due to undernutrition or overnutrition

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Immunization

Immunization is the process of protecting a person

from a specific disease which can happen naturally or
through vaccination.
Immunizatio is the most important measure esp in
children coz infections are the major cause of their
sickness and death.

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Child spacing
Birth interval affects the health of the mother and the
child.
Longer Birth intervals result in healthier families thus
discuss with the community on it.
Involve fathers in the child spacing discussions and
provide the services in every MCH clinic

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Environmental Control
Environment – biological, technological, physical,
cultural, social, economic and polotical aspects. Man’s
survival depends on ability to adjust.
Water essential after air thus need to protect the
sources; ptotect the well and the spring
Quality of water – via bacteriological analysis- water is
collected in 500ml flask, kept btw 4 & 10degrees then
anaysed within 30hrs
Chemical analysis – 4 & 5 litres in clean container then
examined for cynide & pesticides within 24hrs.
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HEALTHSERVICES UTILIIZATION
Health care providers giving care to community are;
Traditional practitioners -
herbalists,birthattendants,bonesetters
Community health workers – Village Health Workers,
health motivators,TBA, health scouts
Western trained health workers - MO, CO, PHO,
Nurses, Nutritionists, Physiotherapist, radiographers.
Workers in other health related fields –
Agriculture,Education,social work,

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Need and demand for services
Why attend to pop health other than sich people only?
For every one sick person who goes to the dispensary,
there are many who don not
Prevention is better than cure
Community services cannot work well without the
involvement, understanding & participation of every
one in the community
What pple demand is not what they need eg demand
to treat measles will not be there if the need of
immunization is met.
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