In areas where there are low levels of electricity, literacy, and the availability of health information, it may now be possible for rural villagers to accurately track health information by counting stones. For more than a decade, the University of Oslo, Norway has created health information systems for countries throughout Africa. Sierra Leone, with its low health ratings, recent civil war, and virtually non-existent power grids in rural villages, is the University’s latest project. In Tobodu, eastern Sierra Leone, the traditional midwives of the village place stones in a box that has five compartments. In this way, the box registers births, stillbirths, post-birth death of a child, post-birth death of a mother, and illness of a mother. These key indicators of health are then counted monthly by the local health center, and passed along to the district authorities. The information is logged in a regional database, which is a part of the national system.
In August, 2008, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Soccoh Alex Kabia, unveiled a “revitalized district health informations system,” with the goal of documenting and producing information on key health indicators. With funding from the World Health Organization and the Health Metrics Network, all 13 districts in Sierra Leone are being provided with low-powered computers that operate on solar energy to create a nation-wide system to document information that will directly influence the decisions of health officials. “This will help us reduce the high mortality among children and pregnant women…by contributing to move to evidence-based planning and decision-making at local levels, transparency and accountability and regular monitoring of progress made in the sector,” said Dr. Kabia.
Tags: africa health news, rural health care, sierra leone, sierra leone health
