This community innovation has been accepted at the 2025 DHIS2 Annual Conference
DHIS2 Supervision Tool for Public Health Midwives
Introduction: The Public Health Midwife (PHM) is the grassroot level officer who plays a critical role in maternal and child health (MCH) services in Sri Lanka, with 6,918 PHM areas across the country. Effective supervision of PHMs is essential to ensure high quality service delivery. Family Health Bureau, the national focal point for MCH, wanted a digital scoring system to monitor PHM performance annually and enhance service provision. Objective: To develop a digital scoring system to assess PHM performance by their supervising officers to improve service delivery in MCH. Case Study: A DHIS2 based format was designed for PHM annual supervision with nine key components covering MCH service delivery. The instructions as to how to carry out the assessment and the scoring scale were provided within the format. Supervising officers assess PHMs based on predefined criteria, assigning scores for each subcomponent. Assessment also included comparison of data captured in different records to check for consistency. Using the DHIS2 indicators, the system automatically calculates individual component scores and generates a final annual performance score for each PHM. This enables systematic monitoring of PHM performance, identifying gaps, and driving improvements in service delivery. Currently, the initiative is in the pilot phase, with ongoing training sessions for supervising officers to ensure effective implementation. Lessons Learned: Sri Lanka’s public health workforce has been using DHIS2 since 2017, facilitating seamless adoption of this scoring system. The initiative highlights the value of DHIS2 as a tool for structured supervision, reinforcing the importance of performance monitoring in strengthening MCH services. The approach can be expanded for other public health supervisory processes, demonstrating DHIS2’s adaptability for diverse use cases in health system strengthening.
Primary Author: Shakira Irfaan
Keywords:
DHIS2, Supervision tool, Public Health Midwife, Performance monitoring, Maternal and child health
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