Planning & Information
Mission, Objective, Achievements and Aims of the Directorate of Planning and Information
By
Aug 10, 2006, 19:51

MISSION STATEMENT

To facilitate efficient micro-planning in all programs both at National and Districts levels and to produce the overall plan of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, ensuring that it is based on reliable information obtained from efficient data collection on a routine basis and/or ad hoc

AIMS

• To provide strategic information to support policy development, preparation of program plans and budgets
• Develop indicators for monitoring progress within the sector
• Strengthen capacity for monitoring the implementation of planned activities and assessing an overall impact
• Coordinate data collection, collation analysis and the dissemination of strategic information for monitoring progress made within the sector

ACHEIVEMENTS

The unit is currently developing a three year plan and budget for 2007-2009. It also coordinates annually, the development of a three year rolling plan and budget for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

The plan sets out the medium term objectives, priorities, strategies and activities for the health sector for achieving the targets set in the PRSP and the Millennium Development Goals. The medium term plan together with budget provides the basis for the annual budget planning.

The unit also supervises quarterly, the collection of district data and the activities of the PHUs and hospitals. The purpose of this supervision is to assess the quality of data collection at PHUs and Hospitals and provide corrections and commendation as appropriate. The supervision also helps in assessing the quality of services provided at health services.

A database for storing and processing monthly data collected from all PHUs and hospitals is currently being developed by the unit. The data base will be installed in each district and will facilitate the storage, analysis and use of data for planning and decision making at all levels.

The Unit is on the verge of establishing a National Accounting System. This would be done in collaboration with the World Health Organization. We are planning on conduct a training workshop for Task Force on National Health Accounts as a first step in developing the framework. 

The NHA is an effective and useful tool for gathering national health financing and expenditure data on public and private services. NHA methodology helps countries to clearly visualize the flow of funds through the health sector, from their sources, through financial intermediaries, to providers and functions.

The expected outcome of this should be that task force members get full training on the principles of NHA, the Ministry adapt NHA instrument for surveys and prepared draft project proposal to solicit funds from government, donors and NGOs for NHA survey to be conducted countrywide.

The Unit is also in the process of updating the health facility location maps in all districts using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. The map will show the location of all health facilities in the country and will clearly identify priority communities for construction of new health facilities. The maps will be linked with census data and so will help to determine accurately the catchment population for each health facilities.

So far, the unit has achieved the following:

It has coordinated the development of Health Sector Medium Term Rolling Plan and Budget for 2006-2008. Changes were recommended for planning process and planning tools and these were introduced and tested during workshops to help districts, central programs and relevant donors to design, discuss and agree on their respective plans as well as to assist the Directorate of Planning and Information to produce the Annual Plan for 2006.

Planning and budgeting workshops were held to discuss the proposed programs of the central district levels for the said period. The Ministry’s partners were included in all of the preparatory planning and budgeting workshops at all levels, which were coordinated by the Directorate of Planning and Information and Directorate of Financial Resources.

The unit has also developed and produced tools for gathering data at both hospitals and Peripheral Health Units (PHUs).

District and national monitoring and evaluation officers  have been trained in the use of computers.