This community innovation has been accepted at the 2026 DHIS2 Annual Conference as a digital poster.
Early Disability Detection in Child Health
Early identification of developmental delays is critical for timely referral and intervention. In the Maldives, routine developmental screening has traditionally relied on paper-based tools and fragmented processes, limiting real-time oversight and continuity of care. To address these challenges, the Ministry of Health implemented a digital developmental milestone tracking system using DHIS2 Tracker to strengthen routine child health monitoring and facilitate earlier detection of developmental risk. The workflow captures age-appropriate developmental milestone observations during scheduled child health visits. Structured data elements align with national child health protocols/tools, and program stages are mapped to key contact points. Built-in validation rules improve data quality at the point of entry, while automated flags identify missed milestones and high-risk patterns for early intervention. Real-time analytics dashboards enable supervisors and national teams to monitor screening coverage, timeliness, and geographic distribution of flagged cases, supporting more responsive supervision and resource allocation. Initial implementation demonstrated improvements in documentation consistency, early identification of children at risk, and reduction in follow-up gaps. Longitudinal tracking within the system has enhanced continuity across services and reduced the risk of children being lost to follow-up.
Primary Author: Dhifana Mohamed
Keywords:
Early identification, Developmental delays, Timely referral, Early intervention, Routine developmental screening, Real-time oversight, Continuity of care, Digital developmental milestone tracking system, Routine child health monitoring, Developmental risk detection, Missed milestones, Flagged cases, Documentation consistency