iHRIS in Uganda

In Uganda, the Ministry of Health and four Health Professional Councils needed to know which health professionals were licensed to work in the country, what training they had received, if they were leaving the health workforce and, if so, why. Although a complex system of paper forms was in place, there was no way to aggregate or analyze the information and it was very difficult just to track down one health worker's name, address or licensing information.

Representatives from the Ministry of Health, the four health professional councils, training institutions, and nongovernmental organizations formed a stakeholder leadership group to guide development and implementation of iHRIS Qualify, a registration and licensing system that tracks health professionals such as nurses from the time they enter pre-service training until they leave the health workforce.

iHRIS Qualify was installed in all four professional health councils: Nurses and Midwives Council, Medical and Dental Council, Pharmacy Council and Allied Health Professional Council. Data on all licensed health workers were entered, and local staff trained on how to produce reports and how to maintain and customize the software.

The councils are now able to produce routine reports that show a complete picture of the country's qualified health workforce. They can more easily access and update information, track the number of health workers by cadre, verify licenses and practice requirements, and ensure new hires are properly qualified. The councils share their data with the Ministry of Health to better inform management decisions. This information is now influencing funding for pre-service education as well as workforce projections. Aggregated data from the councils have been used to inform Uganda's HRH strategic plan and to advocate for more funding for health worker training. Further, the Medical and Dental Council launched a registration website that pulls data from its iHRIS Qualify system and makes it easy for employers and managers of health professionals and the public to check on which medical officers are properly licensed to work in the country.

iHRIS Manage, HR management software, has been customized for Uganda and installed at the central Ministry of Health. Data will be used for HR decision-making, such as recruitment at the central and district level. Data are already being used in a national biannual report that shows the number of filled and vacant health worker positions in public hospitals and health centers throughout the country. They system is currently being rolled out to all of the District Health Offices in the country's 122 districts. As part of the roll out activity, the project is training local staff on how to produce reports and maintain and customize the software. As more districts gain access to iHRIS Manage, it is a priority to ensure data is kept up-to-date and regularly shared with the central Ministry.

Uganda recognizes that the effectiveness and sustainability of the iHRIS systems is dependent on having qualified technical support to maintain and adapt the software. Since there is a shortage of information technology experts, an internship program was set up for students at the nearby Makerere University's School of Computing and Information Technology. Following intensive training, student interns work with iHRIS administrators to install and update the iHRIS software, manage and clean data, and provide data analysis support.

The IntraHealth-led Uganda Capacity Program contributes to this work, building on the work of the former Capacity Project (2005-2009).

Read Uganda news from our blog.

Watch a recent video about HRIS in Uganda and check out the related publication in English or in French.