Demasco Obedgiu, 37, is a health assistant at Paminya Health Centre III in Uganda’s Nebbi district. Working under the preventive department of public health in the hospital, which caters to 12,000 people from 29 villages across three parishes, Demasco’s work includes ensuring the cleanliness and hygiene of the centre, discussing health related issues and raising health awareness in the community.
“Once prepared, I head out into the community, responding to reports and assignments from district authorities, as well as investigating rumours or word-of-mouth information,” says Demasco.
While impactful at the community level, the time consuming manual processes hinder efficiency of service delivery. Digital transformation was inevitable, with BRAC Uganda introducing the BRAC Afya application, a digital mHealth solution designed to enhance service quality, productivity and performance management for community health workers (CHWs). The app enables CHWs to register households, assess general health, and product referral pathways to and from health centres for children under the age of five and pregnant women.
The productivity boost brought about by the app led to the government adopting BRAC’s approach and launching the eCHIS (electronic community health information system) pilot application to train its village health teams (VHTs), capture real time data entered by VHTs and allow supervisors to monitor data at health centres.
eCHIS transformed Demasco’s work, allowing him to monitor disease trends and analyse outpatient department registers, and providing support and supervision to VHTs. “One of the key functionalities of the eCHIS tool is its ability to provide information on stock availability to VHTs,” Demasco remarks. “This allows me to make informed decisions on stock replenishment and utilisation, optimise resource allocation, and assess the performance of VHTs and collaborate with partners for appropriate planning and interventions.”
Overall, Demasco believes that the eCHIS tool will guide health workers make informed decisions and improve delivery of services in the community.
*This story was collected and compiled by the Health programme assistants in Uganda. Editing support: Edwinah Nassuna and Tahmeed Chaudhury
