DHIS2 Health Information Management for Humanitarian Response Training Course

Course overview

Humanitarian health teams must turn fragmented facility reports, mobile data collection, disease alerts and service-utilisation figures into decisions that can withstand operational scrutiny. In an emergency response, weak DHIS2 configuration can produce duplicated beneficiaries, incomplete reporting rates, misleading coverage indicators and dashboards that obscure gaps in services. This course equips participants to design, administer and use DHIS2 health information workflows that support coordinated, timely and accountable humanitarian action across camps, mobile clinics, host communities and disrupted health systems.

Participants work through DHIS2 aggregate data, Tracker configuration, organisational unit structures, data elements, indicators, validation rules, programme stages and disaggregation design. They learn to configure emergency-ready datasets; manage reporting periods and completeness; create dashboards, pivot tables and GIS maps; analyse trends and outliers; and establish data-quality routines. The course also addresses interoperability with field data collection tools, minimum data standards, protection-sensitive data handling and the use of health information for response prioritisation, donor reporting and health-cluster coordination.

Delivery combines instructor-led demonstrations with guided configuration labs using a humanitarian response scenario. Participants build a working DHIS2 prototype for a defined emergency health programme, including a data dictionary, reporting dataset or Tracker programme, validation rules, indicators, dashboard and data-quality improvement plan. They leave with reusable configuration templates, a documented implementation blueprint and an action plan for applying the approach within their own country office, implementing partner or coordination mechanism.

The course is designed for practitioners who already work with health data, programme monitoring or DHIS2 and need to move beyond routine data entry into system design, analysis and governance for emergency operations.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure DHIS2 organisational units, datasets, reporting periods and category option combinations for an emergency health response.
• Design a humanitarian health data dictionary with data elements, indicators, disaggregations and indicator definitions.
• Build a DHIS2 Tracker programme with programme stages, tracked entity attributes and protection-aware enrolment workflows.
• Create validation rules, completeness checks and outlier-review procedures to improve reporting quality.
• Develop DHIS2 dashboards, pivot tables and GIS maps for service coverage, disease trends and response gaps.
• Analyse aggregate and Tracker data using indicator interpretation, disaggregation and trend-comparison methods.
• Apply WHO HeRAMS-aligned service availability concepts and humanitarian health information governance controls.
• Produce a documented DHIS2 emergency-response configuration blueprint and implementation action plan.

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Health Information Management Officers — who configure, maintain or assure the quality of humanitarian health reporting systems.
• DHIS2 Administrators — who need to adapt metadata, user access and reporting workflows for emergency operations.
• Health Cluster Information Managers — who consolidate partner data and present evidence for coordination decisions.
• MEAL Managers — who must define credible indicators, reporting processes and data-quality controls for health programmes.
• Emergency Health Programme Managers — who use service, surveillance and coverage data to target operational resources.
• Digital Health Advisors — who design interoperable, secure information systems across ministries, agencies and implementing partners.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience with routine health reporting, programme monitoring, surveillance, MEAL, or humanitarian health operations. They should understand basic concepts including indicators, numerators and denominators, disaggregation, reporting completeness, organisational units and data quality. Familiarity with DHIS2 navigation, data entry or dashboards is strongly recommended; participants who administer DHIS2 will gain the most from the configuration labs. Bring a laptop capable of using a modern web browser and spreadsheet software. Prior coding, database administration, GIS analysis or advanced statistics experience is not required, and the course does not assume that participants can build custom DHIS2 applications.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led briefings followed by live DHIS2 demonstrations and progressively structured configuration labs. Participants work with a realistic emergency scenario involving damaged facilities, mobile teams, partner reporting and changing service needs. Individual exercises cover metadata, Tracker, validation, analytics and mapping; small groups compare indicator definitions and troubleshoot data-quality cases. Facilitators provide configuration feedback throughout. On the final day, participants assemble their work into an implementation blueprint and peer-review its operational feasibility, data-protection implications and reporting value.

Course outline

Day 1: Humanitarian health information architecture in DHIS2

• Humanitarian health information flows from service point to coordination level
• DHIS2 architecture, apps and metadata dependencies
• Organisational unit hierarchies for facilities, mobile teams and partner sites
• Emergency reporting periods and dataset assignment
• Data elements, option sets and category combinations
• Humanitarian health indicator reference sheets and disaggregation choices
• User roles, sharing settings and access-control principles

Workshop: Participants map an emergency response reporting flow and produce a DHIS2 metadata blueprint for a mobile-clinic and facility-based health programme.

Day 2: Aggregate reporting and data-quality controls

• Aggregate dataset configuration for outpatient, inpatient and community health services
• Data entry forms and section design for partner reporting
• Indicator configuration using numerator, denominator and annualised factor fields
• Validation rules for logical consistency and service-volume checks
• Reporting completeness and timeliness monitoring
• Outlier detection using DHIS2 analytics tables and data approval workflows
• Data-quality review meetings and corrective-action registers

Workshop: Participants configure an aggregate monthly reporting dataset, create validation rules and produce a data-quality review sheet from simulated partner submissions.

Day 3: Tracker for people-centred emergency health services

• When to use Tracker rather than aggregate reporting
• Tracked entity types and protection-sensitive attribute design
• Programme stages for screening, referral, treatment and follow-up
• Program rules, mandatory fields and workflow constraints
• Event capture, enrolment and visit scheduling
• Deduplication risks and unique identifier management
• DHIS2 Android Capture workflows for low-connectivity field teams

Workshop: Participants build a Tracker workflow for referral and follow-up services and produce a field-ready enrolment and programme-stage design.

Day 4: Analysis, visualisation and response decision support

• DHIS2 Data Visualizer for tables, charts and pivot analyses
• Dashboard design for incident management and health-cluster reporting
• GIS layers, thematic maps and service-gap visualisation
• Trend analysis by reporting period, location and population group
• Disaggregation analysis by age, sex, disability and displacement status
• Interpreting coverage, utilisation and disease-surveillance indicators
• Data storytelling for operational briefings and donor reports

Workshop: Participants create a decision dashboard and GIS map pack that identifies priority locations for additional health-service support.

Day 5: Governance, interoperability and implementation planning

• WHO HeRAMS concepts for service availability and readiness reporting
• Data protection, minimisation and role-based access in humanitarian settings
• Data-sharing agreements and partner reporting accountabilities
• KoboToolbox-to-DHIS2 integration patterns and data-transfer controls
• Change management for ministry, cluster and implementing-partner adoption
• DHIS2 configuration documentation and version-control practices
• Phased implementation planning, testing and post-deployment support

Workshop: Participants assemble and present a DHIS2 humanitarian response implementation plan containing configuration decisions, governance controls, rollout milestones and data-quality actions.

Tools & standards covered

DHIS2, DHIS2 Tracker, DHIS2 Android Capture, KoboToolbox

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions