Provided by Smart Paper Technology Solution
Children Registered*
686924
Children Fully Vaccinated
89624
Children Followed-up with SMS
43313
* fixed, outreach and mobile clinic sites
In 2015 Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, (MoPH), Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) and Shifo Foundation (Shifo) joined hands to improve immunisation information system, which would improve data quality and data use. Assessments showed that point-of-care eHealth solutions are not timely in Afghanistan and cannot replace existing systems based on paper forms, because of lack of infrastructure in most health service delivery points (HSDP), the security risk to health workers and high-operating costs, which are not sustainable for MoPH.
Because people live in mountainous areas, almost 90% of health service deliveries are conducted through outreach visits and mobile clinics, which brings further complexity for fully shifting to point-of-care eHealth solutions.
In 2016, partners have agreed to test and evaluate Smart Paper Technology, a hybrid paper-to-digital solution, to bring the same benefits as fully digital health solutions, and which bypasses infrastructure challenges and has low operating costs.
In 2017, Smart Paper Technology was first implemented and evaluated in Mehterlam District to support immunisation services for children and women of childbearing age. The project was financially supported by IKEA Foundation.
Based on an external evaluation in Mehterlam District in 2018, MoPH decided to shift/retire existing system and use exclusively Smart Paper Technology in all the health facilities in Laghman Province. This was an important decision for bringing systems change and institutionalising Smart Paper Technology Solution in Afghanistan.
Since then Smart Paper Technology Solution was adopted at scale in all 648 health service delivery points in Laghman Province, which includes 51 fixed, 376 outreach and 256 mobile clinic sites.
Thanks to support from SCA and Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), Smart Paper Technology is currently being scaled-up in Wardak Province, where already 145 health service delivery points are using SPT to register and follow-up on children and women receiving preventive health services.
The following data use interventions have been integrated across the health care chain:
External evaluation of data quality, operational costs and efficiency of Smart Paper Technology in Afghanistan
External Evaluation of transfer of work processes to existing health system
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