Mobile-based health reporting services launched

Islamabad : The use of modern technology is integral to improving the development index in Balochistan, Secretary Finance Balochistan Dr. Noor-ul-Haq Baloch stated Friday while addressing the launching ceremony of ‘Mobile Based Health Reporting Services’ that are intended to close the gap of product availability in Balochistan.

Terming the launch a landmark achievement which would mark the beginning of a new era in contraceptive commodity data visibility and stock availability, Dr. Noor hoped that such initiatives would be instrumental in improving the planning process at the provincial and district levels.

The event was attended by high-level government functionaries of the Balochistan government including Additional Chief Secretary Development Abdul Rehman Buzdar and Secretary PWD Abdul Latif Kakar who also underscored the importance of availability of valid and reliable data for improved planning. Leveraging simple mobile technology innovatively will enable the provincial government to review performance of facilities and take remedial measures on timely basis.

Abdul Latif Kakar assured that the government of Balochistan would scale-up the imminent successes of low-cost and high-impact mobile-based health reporting services pilot throughout the province with their own resources, enabling real-time data visibility. He also added that with 70 service providers trained in 5 districts during the pilot phase, another 340 service providers from the remaining 28 districts of Balochistan would be imparted training during the scale up, and it is anticipated that once the roll-out is complete, approximately around 1 million married women of reproductive age would benefit from commodity availability.

The event was attended by representatives of USAID, UN agencies, and other development partners. Sangita Patel, USAID Health Office Director, felicitated Balochistan for pioneering this technology in the province for health logistics data reporting in real times. She emphasized that the use of evidence generated through mobile-based health reporting services will change the way of heath management in Balochistan. In the initial pilot phase for five districts, the technology is expected to impact product accessibility to 400,000 married women of reproductive age, followed by 2 million after scale-up.

Dr. Muhammad Tariq, Country Director, USAID funded Global Health Supply Chain Programme – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project chronicled the project’s strategic engagements with the government of Balochistan for supply chain systems strengthening since 2009 and the gains made during previous years on province-wide use of LMIS for Immunization and Family Planning logistics.

Country Representatives of UNFPA and WHO both lauded Balochistan for adopting this innovative technological solution for data reporting from far-flung areas of the province and assured their full support for improving health indicators of the province.