Proceedings of the 13th Meeting of the
COMCEC Poverty Alleviation Working Group
26
can access these services and how barriers could be reduced, and (iii) investigate how private
health providers affect the larger health system, e.g. with respect to availability of trained
health workforce, the extent to which private providers work with relevant public authorities,
and how positive links can be strengthened as well as negative impacts can be mitigated.
Policy Advice 4: Encouraging development and upgrade of health information
management systems through designing an online-integrated health information system,
allocating required resources to health IT infrastructure and strengthening multi-
sectoral coordination mechanism.
Rationale:
Monitoring key health data is crucial to identify challenges and priorities in providing quality
health services. Strengthening health information systems facilitates planning and allocation
of resources as well as contributes to accountable and transparent public health management.
Integrated health information systems would enable government officials give sound and
timely decisions based on reliable data towards enhancing access to health services.
Many OIC Member Countries face challenges regarding health information management such
as reporting quality and timeliness, duplication and fragmentation of data collection as well as
lack of rigorous validation within different programmes. Some member countries do not have
sufficient registration of births and deaths as well as reporting complete and accurate causes
of death is lacking. Therefore, allocating required resources to IT infrastructure to enhance a
well-designed health information management system with a special emphasis on the poor is
needed to be taken into consideration. In this respect, data analysis, which is made at sub-
national level to address pockets of poverty, should be ensured. Moreover, in order to ensure
uniformity in aggregating data, collaborating with different stakeholders such as statistical
departments, relevant ministries and organizations is crucial to achieve a strong multi-sectoral
coordination mechanism.
Instruments to Realize the Policy Advices:
COMCEC Poverty Alleviation Working Group: In its subsequent meetings, the Working
Group may elaborate on the above-mentioned policy areas in a more detailed manner.
COMCEC Project Funding: Under the COMCEC Project Funding, the COMCEC Coordination
Office issues calls for project proposals each year. With the COMCEC Project Funding, the
member countries participating in the Working Groups can submit multilateral cooperation
projects to be financed through grants by the COMCEC Coordination Office. For realizing above-
mentioned policy recommendations, the member countries can utilize the COMCEC Project
Funding facility. These projects may include organization of seminars, training programs,
study visits, exchange of experts, workshops and preparation of analytical studies, needs
assessments and training materials/documents, etc.