Resources

Enterprise architecture (EA) is an approach that organizations can use to help align their information system (IS) with their mission, goals, and objectives and help them determine how to most effectively achieve their objectives, by investing in information and communication technology. EA applies principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, IS, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies. The EA approach can help the health sector simplify the complexity of its health information system (HIS) by identifying important relationships and aligning different components of the HIS, to reduce the risks of fragmentation, duplication, and lack of interoperability.The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes EA as a method of assessing or describing technology adoption in the health sector. For member countries to achieve HIS improvement, WHO recommends the following development steps: architecture vision, business architecture, IS architecture, technology architecture, opportunities and solutions, migration planning, implementation governance, and architecture change management. In line with WHO and other global standards, Tanzania first articulated its intent to use EA to manage digital transformation in the health sector in its first national eHealth strategy (2013-2018). Through its Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, the Government of Tanzania aimed to use EA to guide the development of an integrated national HIS. The need for the health sector to apply the EA approach is also evident in Tanzania’s draft National Health Policy (2020), which aims “to achieve improved efficiency of the Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) and its associated processes to meet health-sector monitoring and evaluation requirements.”

National malaria control programs (NMCPs) are frequently faced with making decisions that require trade-offs in order to best allocate scarce resources to control and eliminate malaria. With limited budgets, NMCPs need to choose how to fund staff, research, operations, essential drugs and diagnostics, and many other items in a manner that maximizes the potential impact on reducing malaria. A mismatch between product characteristics and NMCP need will result in overspending and opportunity costs because those wasted funds could have been used elsewhere.This fact sheet explores these potential downstream consequences for NMCPs of upstream decisions made during the product development process on two examples related to diagnostics used in malaria case management.

The Program for the Advancement of Malaria Outcomes (PAMO) is a flagship malaria program for the U.S. government President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in Zambia. PAMO helps the GRZ accelerate progress towards eliminating local malaria infection and disease. Implemented by PATH, PAMO supports GRZ at the national level through the National Malaria Elimination Centre (NMEC) and in four high malaria burden provinces: Luapula, Muchinga, Eastern, and Northern.This brief provides a high-level summary of PAMO's work.

This brief summarizes the experience and capabilities of the PATH Cervical Cancer Team. For decades, PATH has been at the forefront of evidence-based strategies from HPV vaccine research and delivery to cervical cancer screening and treatment to ensure we best meet the needs and realities of these countries for the greatest health impact.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Africa CDC, and a number of country governments have advised people to wear non-medical masks in public when community transmission of COVID-19 may be widespread. Faced with shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE)—and in order to reserve the use of medical-grade masks for health care workers—homemade cloth masks can help reduce the spread of large droplets if used correctly. PATH has reviewed and consolidated guidance on the use of homemade cloth masks for use in communities.