ABSTRACT
A health information system (HIS) is an “integrated effort to collect, process, report and use health information and knowledge to influence policy-making, programme action and research”. HIS is one of the essential building blocks of a health system, enabling decision-makers at all levels of the health system to identify health challenges and make optimal allocation of scarce resources to achieve health improvements. At the individual and community level, health information supports effective clinical management and assessment of the extent to which services are responding to community needs. Electronic health records are preferred to the paper-based systems mostly used in low- and middle-income countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). World Health Organization in the EMR has a plan of action to improve HIS. Health data and information come from two main categories: population-based data sources and institution-based data sources. The data provides an opportunity to study dynamics in health status, health services, and health resources.
