Nigeria’s National Health Act 2014 aims to substantially increase revenue and improve Primary Health Care (PHC) services through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF). To ensure proper implementation of the BHCPF, it became necessary to have strategies in place to enable accountability between different stakeholders responsible for implementation at national, state, local government area and facility levels.

One of the challenges that prohibit accountability is poor data management which could lead to inaccurate information to plan for resources and budgetary allocations. With poor data management, stakeholders cannot accurately develop and track the results of decisions made. It can also deter development partners and other donors from providing funding. In view of this, the Federal Ministry of Health partnered with eHealth4everyone and other key stakeholders to provide a platform for effective data management. This was achieved through the development of the customized, digital BHCPF mobile application and web platform.

This platform has provided effective and easy access to high-quality data and analytics. Instead of recording information on printed paper and manually entering it into a database for analysis, the data is inputted into a mobile device and submitted directly into a centralized database. This enhances data collection, quality and analysis processes.

The platform with its validation protocols ensures all data collected is of high quality. The platform also ensures data security thereby reducing any risk of data leaks. Also uniquely, the platform allows data to be collected offline or online. Data collected offline is automatically uploaded once internet connectivity is restored. This is advantageous, especially in areas with limited internet access.

BHCPF home

Image 1: Image showing the BHCPF web and mobile platform. Photo Credit: eHealth4everyone

The platform ensures that data is easily and safely stored, exported, backed up, and can be encrypted to guarantee secured access. The platform also provides real-time analytics and reports that can be exported for review, further analysis, and to inform decision-making processes.

eHealth4everyone supports the field activity by providing consistent and timely feedback as needed to our partners, field supervisors, and enumerators. We also offer capacity building for supervisors through training-of-trainers meetings on how to use the digital platform. With our support, seven (7) states (Ogun, Kwara, Ebonyi, Plateau, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara) completed the BHCPF health facilities baseline assessment, with one thousand, nine hundred and twenty (1,920) facility submissions using the digital BHCPF mobile app and the web platform.

Image 2: Showing an ongoing BHCPF assessment at a health facility. Photo credit: BHCPF 

At eHealth4everyone, we are committed to providing digital health solutions to save lives. As a leading IT company, we have developed a suite of data collection platforms such as Datakojo, Digital ISS. We have also gone ahead to customize DHIS2 as a data collection tool in several use cases. We anticipate more partnerships to achieve seamless data collection and management processes for improved health service delivery and ultimately, better health outcomes for the Nigerian people.

Finally, we would like to appreciate the BHCPF, the Federal Ministry of Health and our numerous users and data collectors who have navigated multiple difficult terrains and circumstances to ensure all data collection activities have been so far successful.

For your custom data collection tools, contact datakojo@e4email.net or +2349021720570.

Visit the website at datakojo.com