This community innovation has been accepted at the 2026 DHIS2 Annual Conference and will be in abstract track/lightning talk.
Closing DHIS2 Oncology Data Void - Malawi
High quality cancer data is critical for monitoring disease burden, guiding resource allocation and building climate resilient health systems. In Malawi, however, a recent gap analysis conducted by Facilitators of Community Transformation (FACT Malawi) under the Malawi Lung Cancer Control Program (MLCCP) with support from Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, revealed a major surveillance weakness: from 2019 to 2024, cancer related fields in the national DHIS2 Oncology Module were largely blank or inconsistently populated across reporting facilities. This five year gap has undermined national visibility of lung cancer trends and weakened the country’s ability to integrate non communicable diseases (NCD) intelligence into broader climate change planning. The gap analysis assessed oncology records from all facilities in Malawi using Oncology module embedded within the district health information system (DHIS2). Across a total of 6, 239 expected cancer related data case entries in DHIS2 from 2019–2024, only 260 (4.2%) were entered in DHIS2, leaving the remaining 95.8% of the fields blank. Out of all the 725 facilities, only 1facility (0.1%) almost consistently entered cancer data in at least four of the six years assessed. In contrast, 724 facilities (99%) showed a complete absence of lung cancer data for all years. The gap analysis also observed absence of lung cancer specific indicators aligned to standards for International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization (WHO/IARC). These findings highlighted an urgent need for structured health system strengthening to restore data confidence and improve routine reporting. By combining system analysis with targeted action, Malawi is moving toward a more resilient, data driven cancer surveillance model that supports early detection, better patient management and evidence based planning.
Primary Author: Wiseman Nkhomah
Keywords:
DHIS2, MLCCP, cancer, oncology module, data quality, gap analysis, capacity building, CanReg5, Malawi, surveillance strengthening