This community innovation has been accepted at the 2025 DHIS2 Annual Conference
Empowering Health Planning in Ethiopia with DHIS2
Effective health planning is vital for equitable resource distribution and better public health in Ethiopia. Since 2007, the Ministry of Health has utilized an Excel-based planning system that relies on manual data aggregation to develop health plans. However, this system faces challenges as prolonged planning cycles exceeding four months, poor alignment with routine HMIS, baseline inaccuracies, and frequent errors in target calculations. These inefficiencies, compounded by staff turnover and dependence on technical Excel skills, have hindered the process. This underscores the urgent need for a streamlined and integrated digital planning system. To address these challenges a planning application developed within the DHIS2 using an agile framework. This approach involved iterative phases, with continuous stakeholder input and feedback. Initial phases focused on identifying needs and designing requirements, while later stages concentrated on application development, customization, testing, and refinement. Close collaboration with M&E advisors ensured the system met evolving planning demands. Integrating the planning application into DHIS2 has significantly reduced the planning cycle, minimized resource inefficiencies, and improved both data accuracy and quality of health plans. By providing access to preloaded baseline data, automated calculations, and standardized conversion factors set at national level, the application ensured consistency across administrative tiers. This automation reduced manual errors, strengthened decision-making by embedding planning within the national routine HMIS, and enabled better alignment between planning and service data for tracking performance against targets. The DHIS2-based planning application improved efficiency, data quality, and resource use in health planning. By shortening planning cycles and aligning with national priorities, it contributed to health system transformation. Further adoption and user-driven enhancements could strengthen its impact for better public health outcomes.
Primary Author: Feregenet Guta
Keywords:
DHIS2, Health planning, Development, Custom application, cascaded indicators, period offset
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