Third Regional Meeting to Share Lessons Learned in the Development and Implementation of Electronic Immunization Registries

Tuesday, 5th of July 2016

Third Regional Meeting to Share Lessons Learned in the Development and Implementation of Electronic Immunization Registries

 http://www.technet-21.org/en/forums/third-regional-meeting-to-share-lessons-learned-in-the-development-and-implementation-of-electronic-immunization-registries

 In Immunization information systems

By: Gabriela Felix

Wednesday May 04 2016 08:31 PM

Date:
4 - 6 April 2016

Purpose:
To share lessons on the planning development and implementation of Electronic Immunization Registries (EIRs) as well as to socialize a draft document on the planning design development and implementation of a national EIR.

Summary:
During this two and a half day meeting participants discussed and shared their experiences and lessons learned regarding the development and implementation of EIRs. Furthermore the meeting participants reviewed the proposed contents of a draft document under development by PAHOs Improving Data Quality for Immunization (IDQi) Project.

Besides sharing experiences and discussing needed EIR functionalities different EIR scopes and options for their development and implementation meeting participants focused on making EIRs sustainable and useful to improve Immunization Program performance and efficiency as well as a tool for better accountability. Issues regarding governance legal frameworks financial and human resources as well as how EIR and other immunization information systems fit into the countries overarching eHealth strategies were emphasized.

As mentioned in the objectives PAHO is developing a practical guide on the planning design development and implementation of an EIR. This document responds to recommendations and regional mandates that support adopting information and communication technologies in health and particularly EIRs and is drawing from successful experiences and lessons learned from countries of the Region. To this end this third regional meeting to share experiences was very useful.

Participants:
Representatives from 20 countries of the Americas three from African countries (Gambia Tanzania and Zambia) World Health Organization (WHO) the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation PATH and both the United States and European Unions Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ‏