This community innovation has been accepted at the 2026 DHIS2 Annual Conference and will be in abstract track/lightning talk.
DHIS2 for planing and reporting at Africa CDC
Background: Public health institutions need integrated digital systems that link strategic priorities, performance indicators, operational work plans, and routine reporting. While DHIS2 is widely used for health data management, its application to institutional results-based planning and performance tracking remains limited. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has developed an integrated, institution-wide digital system that not only tracks data but also actively translates it into management intelligence. Methods: We designed and implemented a novel, two-linked tracker program within the DHIS2 platform. The Performance Indicators Reference Sheet (PIRS) tracker institutionalizes the strategic results framework, while the Operational Workplan tracker details activities, budgets, and quarterly reporting, with direct linkages to PIRS indicators. We established a connection from DHIS2 to Microsoft Power BI, where we developed real-time and interactive dashboards. The dashboard provides overall institutional performance, progress by strategic priority area, results by division, and detailed indicator-level analytics, transforming tracked data into accessible insights. Results: The use of DHIS2 and Power BI has demonstrated a transformation in management dialogue: review discussions shifted from narrative accounts to evidence-based analyses supported by the live dashboard. Leadership could interrogate performance trends at strategic, divisional, and activity levels in real time. Preliminary observations indicate a significant enhancement in transparency, accountability, and the institution’s capacity for agile, data-informed stewardship. Conclusion: The Africa CDC experience demonstrates that coupling a coherent DHIS2-based planning and tracking framework with a direct business intelligence visualization layer creates a powerful, closed-loop performance management system. This model provides a replicable blueprint for health institutions seeking to operationalize results-based management. Future development will focus on predictive analytics.
Primary Author: ERIC YOUM
Keywords:
Africa CDC, Digitalization, planning, DHIS 2, Performance
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