We are pleased to announce the release of the DHIS2 Cancer Registry Toolkit, developed in collaboration with Vital Strategies and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to support countries in establishing and strengthening population-based cancer registration within national HMIS platforms.
The toolkit operationalizes international standards for cancer registration by consolidating case-based data collection, ICD-O-3 coding, and built-in data quality checks into a harmonized DHIS2 configuration. By integrating cancer registry functions within existing national DHIS2 infrastructure, the toolkit helps programmes reduce reliance on standalone registry software, strengthen data quality at the point of entry, and improve the availability of reliable cancer incidence data for cancer control planning.
The DHIS2 Cancer Registry Toolkit provides a reference configuration based on the DHIS2 Tracker data model, grounded in IARC’s Cancer Registration: Principles and Methods (Scientific Publication No. 160). A key component of the toolkit is a dedicated custom web application that bridges DHIS2 and CanReg5 — the cancer registry software developed by IARC and widely used by population-based registries worldwide. The application extracts cancer case data from the DHIS2 Tracker program and transforms it into a format directly importable into CanReg5, handling the structural differences between the two systems and consolidating patient, tumor, and source records into a single output file. This enables registries already using CanReg5 for analysis and reporting to continue doing so, while benefiting from DHIS2 as a national data collection and HMIS integration platform.
By combining the DHIS2 Tracker data model with a dedicated CanReg5 interoperability application, the toolkit supports national cancer registries in building sustainable, high-quality cancer surveillance capacity — contributing to progress toward SDG 3.4 and national cancer control priorities.
System Design Guide and Installation Guide: Available here
Demo: Explore this new toolkit directly within the DHIS2 demo environment to understand its functionalities and adaptability
Launch Webinar: Watch the recording here
Metadata packages are also available for download and customization for your country or organization via the DHIS2 metadata download section.