Understanding Determinants of Health Data Use by the Levels of Health
System in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review on Routine
Health Information System.
Abstract
Evidence shows limited use of routine data to support health actions in
lower and middle-income countries. To address that, there are several
ongoing efforts to strengthen routine health information systems which
are largely crippled by the fragmented nature of the health system. This
review determines factors influencing routine data use at different
health system levels. We scoped up four literature sources, i.e.,
PubMed, IEEE Xplore, the Public Library of Science (PLOS), and Google
Scholar for the article published between January 2019 and December
2023. Three reviewers independently screened article titles, abstracts,
and full text against inclusion and exclusion criteria, following the
Arksey and O’Malley and PRISMA framework to guide the review process. We
classified our findings into three health system levels: i.e. facility,
district, and national/sector-wide. Out of 387 articles retrieved from
databases, 41 articles were selected for inclusion, where the majority
of the articles (48.8%), were on the health facility level. The study
found that factors influencing the use of routine data vary across
health system levels, with human resource capacity and friendly data
collection tools being more important at the facility level. In
contrast, the availability, and capacity to use analytical tools and
governance structures were more reported at the district and national
levels. Further, capacity building in health information systems, IT
infrastructure, and regular supervision, were identified as crucial
across all health system levels. We argue for focused interventions to
be designed to institutionalize routine data use practices for better
healthcare outcomes across health system levels.