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Botswana District Health IT Officers
Public-Private Partnership (DHITO PPP)
Helping match Botswana’s health information technology systems
with skilled human resources
Client: U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC); CDC Botswana
Location: Botswana
Sector: Health Information Systems
Start date: September 2011
Completion date: March 2015
Office responsible:
Cardno Emerging Markets USA, Ltd.
Key services:
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Funds Management
Program Technical Support
Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
Knowledge Management and
Strategic Communications
Contact Cardno:
Phone +1 703 373 7747
[email protected]
www.cardno.com
Project Website:
www.cdcp4.org
Cardno’s CDC Public-Private Partnerships in PEPFAR Countries Project (CDC P4)
Cardno operates in coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) U.S. Office of Global AIDS
Coordinator (OGAC) to serve as the Global Secretariat. Cardno assists in managing the Botswana
District Health IT Officers (DHITO) PPP.
Background
In Botswana, the development of information technology (IT) tools is vital to ensure that accurate
and real-time monitoring and evaluation occurs. However, the recent rapid influx of health
resources has overwhelmed Botswana’s IT support infrastructure, leaving it to rely on ill-supported
IT tools. Given the lack of IT expertise and human resources at the district-level, IT assistance
was identified as a critical gap that inhibited districts from timely reporting and utilizing data for
optimal service delivery. Botswana has been at the forefront of applying these tools to resolve its
various health challenges, including having the world’s second highest HIV prevalence of 24.8%
and very scarce human resources.
Overview
In September 2011, OGAC and CDC Botswana collaborated with Botho University, a private
technology university in Botswana, and the Ministry of Health (MoH), to launch the DHITO PPP to
reinforce the government’s IT capacity to address the challenges. The partnership competitively
selected recent Botho University graduates as IT Interns who were given attachments funded by
CDC Botswana in districts to support small health facilities lacking adequate IT support. Botho
University trained interns in the management of IT systems for the supported health facilities and
provided them one to two weeks of training after recruitment. CDC Botswana and MoH provided
technical oversight and mentorship to the interns deployed to facilities. Cardno provided technical
and program management services to inform program development and implementation. The
The development of
information technology
tools is vital to ensuring
that accurate and realtime monitoring and
evaluation occurs.
university also provided technical assistance
and supervisory visits to supported health
institutions during the internships.
Interns were funded for a period ranging
from one to two years, at which point the
Government of Botswana (GoB) and other
partners, considered absorption for program
continuity and sustainability. In order to
strengthen the Botswana Health Information
Systems portfolio, the PPP set forth the
following three objectives: (i) Increase the
personnel and skills of the IT Interns in
health information systems; (ii) Increase in IT
personnel at health districts; and (iii) Increase
the functionality of IT infrastructure at the
district level and facility level. Specifically, the
IT Interns supported the GoB in strengthening
the capacity of health districts and civil
society organizations to report results in a
timely manner and to utilize locally-generated
data for health programming, diagnostics and
treatment.
Intern Roles & Activities
Under the Partnership, the IT Interns served in
the following roles and capacities:
> Ministry of Health IT Officer Interns:
Interns deployed to health facilities to
assist the service delivery units with various
IT needs.
> Central Medical Stores (CMS) IT
Interns: Interns deployed to this strategic
governmental organization to strengthen its
IT capacity.
> Increase in on-time Logistics Management
Information System (LMIS) reporting by
district health facilities to CMS from 30.7%
(2012) to 90.5% (2015).
> Institute of Health Services (IHS):
Interns deployed to this strategic nongovernmental organization to strengthen its
IT capacity.
> Monitoring of PIMS performance through
site visits conducted twice a week to
approximately 276 PIMS sites between
2012 and 2015.
> IT Software & Developer Interns: Interns
deployed to support development and
maintenance of open source health tools.
> On-site mentoring and training to an
average of over 2,211 district health facility
PIMS users per year.
> CDC Help Desk/PIMS Interns: Intern
developers deployed to support PIMS
rollout and implementation.
> Seven modules out of existing PIMS
modules were modified to create a webbased centralized system for aggregated
data.
Key Results
> A total of USD $2,388,867 was contributed
to the partnership, including in-kind
contributions valued at USD $1,194,434
leveraged from Botho University (through
December 2014).
> Reduction in average system downtime
from seven days (2012) to one day (2015)
across district health facilities in 27
supported districts.
> Number of interns recruited and trained to
the program: 84
> Number of health facilities supported by the
partnership: 37
> Number of satellite facilities supported by
interns: 201
> Number of interns absorbed post-internship:
23.
Front from left to right: An MOH IT Officer repairs a computer. A PIMS IT Officer Intern supports a facility doctor to enter patient
data into PIMS.
Back from left to right: The Partnership aids students in achieving successful placement in the job market after graduation. An
MOH IT Officer services hardware.
April 2015
Images: