2017 ICT4D Conference

The Ministry of Health Uganda is currently in a process align existing and proposed eHealth programmes with the national strategy. The MoH is developing a Community Health Management System (CHMS) “Suite of Tools” to meet a number of key national priorities, including the ongoing VHT Revitalization Strategy and the Sharpened RMNCH Plan. The VHT Revitalization Strategy is still under review and development. It is expected that 8,000 CHEWs will be recruited largely from top performers from within the VHT ranks. The CHMS “Suite of Tools” is comprised of a number of tools including a smart phone based application aimed to be used by CHEWs (CHMS Android), and FamilyConnect directly targeting community based VHTs and health consumers (pregnant women and heads of households) through USSD and SMS. CHMS Android and FamilyConnect was developed by the MoH with support from UNICEF and USAID. An initial prototype of CHMS Android was developed in early 2015, and is being tested by approximately 750 VHTs in Moyo and Ntungamo Districts. As the VHT Revitalization Strategy is implemented, the CHMS Android tool will be employed by the CHEWS. VHTs will either use the more basic “FamilyConnect” USSD and SMS module where government and partner support is limited, or the more comprehensive CHMS Android tool where support is available.

The presentation will be on the process UNICEF has gone through for the last two years to insititutionalise the rollout of the two digital tools with Government of Uganda; initial scale up in 19 districts and plan for national scale up by 2019.