Exploring linkages between routine health facility (HMIS) data and surveys: early lessons from the PMA2020 Nigeria Project

Elizabeth F. Omoluabi, Centre for Research Evaluation Resources and Development (CRERD)

Delivering on Africa’s data revolution involves finding innovative ways of assessing and triangulating the increasing amounts and complexity of population and health data generated from various sources. Routine data produced by health management information systems (HMIS) are an essential foundation for evidence-based decision-making within public health systems but in most developing countries, they mostly provide count data e.g. number of vaccines provided, without the denominator of the target population that needs to be vaccinated. They need to be linked to household/community level data from censuses or surveys to transform their count data to meaningful indicators of service delivery. PMA2020 supports regular low-cost, rapid-turnaround, nationally-representative fertility, family planning and WASH household surveys using mobile technology. This paper explores ways in which the PMA2020 data can effectively triangulate some of the National HMIS data in the area of family planning in Nigeria.