Makerere University School of Public Health Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Support Program (MakSPH-METS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health – AIDS Control Program (MOH-ACP), and USAID-SITES embarked on upgrading the Uganda EMR (UgandaEMR) to enable real-time and retrospective entry of data at all HIV testing service points within a facility (HTS Solution).
This is expected to greatly improve the provision of HIV Testing Services, support the timely capture of quality data, and aid timely clinical decision-making.
UgandaEMR is a facility-level electronic medical system designed to support data management for HIV programs and other health services. Currently, UgandaEMR is in use at over 1900 facilities countrywide.
PEPFAR program reports. This involves the development, upgrading, testing, piloting, and roll-out of systems that can support the generation of complete, timely, and accurate data.
The roll-out of the HTS module into the EMR was conducted between 9th – 20th January 2023 and targeted 140 PEPFAR-supported health facilities (70 CDC & 70 USAID/DOD).
This involved conducting district entry District Health Teams, orienting system users as well as collecting on-site feedback on the usability of the upgraded HTS Solution.
Currently, over 300 site-level health providers have been oriented on the use of the upgraded system and operationalization is improving in all 140 facilities.
To meet user expectations, additional modifications to the system were performed. The team has documented experiences and lessons learned, all of which will inform national scale-up for the upgraded system to additional HTS sites.
The roll-out has already registered results and among them is improved user capability to enter all required HTS data at the various data entry points; and the elimination of double counting during report generation. Additionally, an HTS dashboard is now available and displays real-time HTS results.
The upgraded HTS Solution now enables the generation of KP/PP HTS indicators.
Below are some of the identified best practices
Facilities that had a functional EMR system were generating better-quality HTS reports.
Sites with active HTS Focal Persons had their data entered in time with no backlog.
Next Steps
Implementing Partners will support the roll-out of the upgraded HTS Solution to additional PEPFAR-supported HTS sites.
METS will support the MOH roll-out of an HTS
Mobile Application that will enable off-site HTS data capture.
HTS Focal Persons to ensure the functionality of the upgraded HTS Solution, timely data capture, and HTS report generation.
By Makerere University CHS
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