Using Health Information for Local Action: Facilitating Organisational Change in South Africa

The optimism expressed by international funding organizations on the costeffectiveness of information systems in primary health care settings, with debate generally exploring policy, political, fiscal and organizational factors, has been tempered by the realization that the development of technical infrastructure has often taken place at the cost of promoting internal sustainability, characterized by organizational change (Braa et al., 1995, Heeks et al., 1999, Opit, 1987:8, Sandiford et al, 1992:34).