Health information system in the district health center, Tabriz

The district health information system (DHIS) converts raw data into useful manegerial information. The main purpose of DHIS is to improve quality of health services in service delivery points. This study was conducted to investigate the DHIS performance. A total of 200 health service-delivery units were selected by systematic random sampling, and the calculation of 47 primary health care indicators was assessed by the provincial health center statistics supervisor. On the average, 41.9% of the indicators had been calculated in each unit. In the district health center, the proportions of outcome measures and process performance indicators calculated were 50% and 5.6%, respectively. On the basis of the indicators obtainable from the vital horoscope, 79% of the indicators in the district health center and 66% of those in the health service-delivery units had been calculated. Finally, there were 97 disease-surveillance forms, 35 environment-health forms, 21 family-health forms, and 23 other forms at the district level. Re-designing the structure of the health information management process and determining indicator packages at the district and service-delivery level are vital steps for improving the health information system at the district level.