NAC trains stakeholders on LAHARS
The National AIDS Commission (NAC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health has conducted training sessions on the Local Authority HIV and AIDS Reporting System (LAHARS) in the five health zones of the country.
The trainings were designed to orient Monitoring and Evaluation Officers (M&EO) as well as Principal Nutrition, HIV and AIDS Officers (PNHAO) on how to access and use the system, which is a web-based database developed by NAC with technical support from Digital Health Division (DHD) in the Ministry of Health.
Addressing the participants in Zomba on Monday, 14th June 2021, NAC Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Andrew Chautala, said quality information is a key component for a strategic National HIV and AIDS Response. He described the database as the main source of non-biomedical health information in the country, stressing that it is key for planning and evidence-based decision making.
Prior to the integration of the LAHARS, NAC relied on paper-based information management which proved less efficient in providing continuous information support to decision making on matters relating to the National Response to HIV and AIDS.
The training sessions were structured to provide a comprehensive overview of the system in terms of data entry, analysis and reporting. The workshops also provided a platform for feedback from the participants on usability of the system features and how they could be enhanced, something that is key to its diffusion and adoption.
The trainings come at a time when the Government of Malawi recognizes the integration of Health Management Information Systems as an essential building block to sustainable health development in the country.
Malawi, through the Malawi National Health Information System Policy, is on the verge of establishing and sustaining development of simple, coherent, scientifically sound, easily understandable and dynamic information systems.
Posted on Jun 30, 2021 Written By Timothy Chavula