Strong health programmes depend on knowing, month by month, whether services are reaching the people who need them. Routine health information systems, surveillance and programme reporting are meant to answer that question, but in many settings they are fragmented across vertical programmes, burdened by duplicate registers and undermined by gaps in completeness and accuracy. Donors increasingly tie funding to verified results, and health managers are expected to explain performance with evidence rather than estimates.

The Health Program Monitoring Systems Training Course works through the components of a functioning monitoring system in a logical sequence. It opens with results chains and performance frameworks, moves to indicator definition, targets and disaggregation, and then examines data sources including facility registers, HMIS summary forms, electronic medical records, community health information systems and periodic surveys such as SARA. Participants then study data management in DHIS2, data quality assurance and analysis for decision-making, finishing with dissemination, data review meetings and a plan for strengthening their own system.

Each day mixes concise technical input with practical work on realistic health datasets and reporting tools. Participants configure indicators, run quality checks on sample facility data and build simple dashboards, so the methods they take home have already been tried on the kind of data they manage.

Participants completing the course will be able to:

• Develop a results framework and logic model linking health inputs and activities to outcomes.
• Select and define indicators with clear numerators, denominators, data sources and disaggregation.
• Map data flows from community and facility level to district and national reporting.
• Configure datasets, validation rules and dashboards in DHIS2.
• Conduct routine data quality assessments and act on the findings.
• Analyse coverage, trends and service readiness to identify performance gaps.
• Facilitate data review meetings that produce agreed corrective actions.

The programme suits health sector staff who generate, manage or use programme data, such as:

• Monitoring and evaluation officers in ministries of health and health NGOs
• Health records and information officers
• District and county health management team members
• HIV, TB, malaria and immunisation programme managers
• Reproductive, maternal and child health coordinators
• Data managers and DHIS2 administrators
• Strategic information staff in donor-funded health projects
• Hospital quality improvement and performance officers

Participants return to work with:

• A set of indicator reference sheets for a programme they manage.
• A data flow map highlighting bottlenecks and duplicate reporting.
• A data quality assessment checklist and verification worksheet.
• A prototype DHIS2 dashboard built from sample facility data.
• A template agenda and action log for monthly data review meetings.
• A prioritised improvement plan for their monitoring system.

Sessions move quickly from concept to practice, using:

• Health facility datasets and reporting forms adapted from real programme settings
• Guided labs in a DHIS2 demonstration environment
• Data quality verification exercises comparing registers with summary reports
• Small-group analysis of programme performance followed by mock review meetings
• Peer exchange on monitoring challenges across HIV, TB, malaria and maternal health

Participants who attend every session and complete the indicator, DHIS2 and data quality exercises are awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.