Household health surveys in developing countries: could more use be made of them in planning?

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Existing health information systems in Eastern Africa are based on findings in patients visiting hospitals and clinics and on routine administrative data. They do not reflect the health situation and the health care of the underserved, and do not, therefore, generate the information required for planning and programming health care for all. Household health surveys are potentially very useful in filling important information gaps, but past surveys have been poorly adapted to existing health care systems; they have been expensive and difficult to replicate, and findings seem to have been rarely used in the planning process. After a brief presentation of current routine reporting, a few planning-oriented surveys conducted in Third World countries are critically reviewed and presented from a planning perspective. It is concluded that household health surveys can be useful components of health information systems and could be used more extensively. However, it is important to involve local health planners/managers in developing the survey design and the implementation plan, to keep costs at a replicable level and to estimate and report survey utility and costs.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: