Health Information Systems in India: Challenges and way forward

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) now endorsed by all UN member state as a part of their sustainable development goals, ushered in an era of improved governance and further development of health care systems. For the seamless functioning of health care systems and for their future development and sustainability, complete and reliable information is essential. The role of Health Information System (HIS) is to ensure recording, analysis, dissemination and use of re- liable and timely data by decision-makers at all levels of the health system. Information is used in a wide range of situations: when developing national strategies and plans; when monitoring progress against national priorities; or when responding to public health emergencies. Information is also needed for greater accountability for results. Given India's commitment to UHC, this paper explores the current HIS of India and understands its completeness and usefulness given the international standards. Article further describes various issues pertaining to data collection, definition, analysis and dissemination at national, sub-national and institutional level, where do India lags and what can be done to develop a seamless HIS for India