Those who had read our previous two posts (Maldives Launches Electronic Immunization Registry [EIR] - based on DHIS2 and Maldives Electronic Immunization Registry - 10 months post national roll out) might have been aware that we had been working towards expanding the use of our Electronic Immunization Registry (EIR). Recently, we have broadened the scope of this registry to include features to track the child’s growth monitoring, development milestones and vitamin A and deworming related information. Our commitment is to ensure that every child who will be born from 1st January 2025 will have a trackable, longitudinal, digital child health record.
Apart from this, we also have a non-communicable disease based Primary Health Care Registry (PHC) which has been progressively rolled out in several atolls of Maldives with a target to ensure that majority of individuals aged 18 years and above will have a baseline screening of major NCDs and its risk factors by end of 2025.
One of the strength of Maldives is the strong presence of a core-team which consists of many passionate and hard-working staff from several key department/divisions of Ministry of Health [MoH], namely Health Information Management and Research Division, Health Protection Agency, Regional and Atoll Health Services Division and IT division. We also have members representing different UN agencies such as WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and partner agencies and stakeholders from other line institutions who are active members of our core team.
Over the past two years and two months post the nation-wide implementation of EIR, WHO had been a strong financial contributor, enabling the mobilization of several technical international experts to assist us in further scaling of our dhis2 based solutions including the evolution of our EIR. Through such experts, Maldives had also been able to build its own local capacity as well. Even if we don’t name each expert who has supported us, they know who they are, and we hope that they are aware of how much we appreciate their support in strengthening our national health information system. Apart from this UNICEF and UNFPA are two other key UN agencies that continue to mobilize funds towards the scaling of our health information system.
The other prominent strength we have is the strong support we continue to receive from several 100s of healthcare workers who regularly update the information into the DHIS2 based modules from all the major health facilities across the country. We, the core team, acknowledge them as the real heroes and heroines that makes a significant contribution towards the establishment of our national health information system.
Up until this point, the information available in our DHIS2 based public health information system is viewable to health professionals who assist us in capturing the data. However, it is our pleasure to inform you that it is going to change from today.
We are excited to announce the launching of our Maldives Integrated Health Information System [MIHIS]'s public portal. During the first phase of this portal, it will enable access to child vaccination records (including the digital vaccination certificate), growth charts, development milestones, vitamin A and deworming related information. Hence, the guardians of any child born from 1st January 2025 onwards, will be able to view these records through this portal. Moreover, the same portal will provide access to a simple primary health care record for those enrolled in the PHC registry. All these data originate from our respective DHIS2 based modules.
This portal will be strategically expanded further until it becomes a comprehensive personal health record that also includes other components such as medical records, information related to ante-natal and post-natal care, communicable disease surveillance, etc. The long-term vision for this initiative is the creation of a longitudinal health record for each citizen from birth till old age, thus enabling each individual to be well informed of their health status and risk factors at every stage of life. We hope that such an enabling environment will eventually empower every citizen of Maldives to make decisions that will better shape their health outcomes, thus, leading to a healthier Maldives.
Please find below the link to the live broadcast of the official ceremony held today to mark the launching of the public portal of MIHIS. Although, most of the content is in our local language, it will contain a speech by the officer in charge of the WHO country office for Maldives. It will also contain the launching video which has subtitles in English.
Thank you 
Posting on behalf of core team of Maldives
