FGH is PEPFAR’s central Health Information Systems (HIS) partner in Mozambique. Under the strategic guidance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), FGH supports the Government of Mozambique (GoM) and PEPFAR partners in developing, strengthening, deploying, and supporting HIS, with the ultimate goal of reaching HIV epidemic control.
FGH’s HIS team has played a vital role for FGH since the organization's inception, establishing systems that progressively expanded at a national level. In 2007, FGH pioneered the first implementation in Mozambique for OpenMRS, an open-source Electronic Patient Tracking System (EPTS) that is currently in use by all PEPFAR clinical partners in the country. Similarly in 2017, FGH established an interoperability solution between OpenMRS and iDART (intelligent Dispensing of Antiretroviral Treatment), a pharmacy system for managing the dispensation of medications that is also used by all PEPFAR clinical partners in the country.
As PEPFAR’s HIS central partner, FGH has a strong team of engineers in Maputo, supported by HIS experts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The team focuses on the following strategic areas:
- EPTS: development and maintenance of OpenMRS EPTS for the delivery of HIV prevention, care and treatment. FGH leads the development of quarterly EPTS releases with updates in the reporting module and system improvements. FGH has led the harmonization of EPTS databases in the country, having all EPTS instances using the same metadata leading the centralization efforts coupled with establishing and maintaining a Patient Master Index.
- Pharmacy systems: development and maintenance of a pharmacy system based on iDART that is interoperable with EPTS. In partnership with GoM’s Center for Medicines and Medical Supplies, FGH developed and supported a pharmacy system used at GoM’s health facilities, along with a mobile pharmacy application used by private pharmacies to manage dispensation of antiretroviral treatment.
- Interoperability of EPTS with laboratory systems: DISA Lab is the electronic laboratory information system used in Mozambique for managing Viral Load testing. FGH leads the development of an interoperability solution between DISA and OpenMRS, facilitating the reporting and communication of Viral Load testing results to the patient.
- DREAMS Layering Tool: DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) is a PEPFAR funded program aimed at reducing rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women in the highest HIV burden countries. The DREAMS Layering Tool (DLT) in Mozambique is used to register DREAMS beneficiaries and to document the interventions they receive, be it in the Community, School or Health Facility. Through quarterly DLT releases, FGH disseminates system improvements to all partners.
- mUzima mobile application: The use of mobile applications has the potential to improve HIV care outcomes, particularly in low-resource settings where healthcare access is limited. In Mozambique, the open source mUzima™ mHealth application, which interoperates with the HIV EPTS, is being adapted by FGH and scaled nationally to support community-based index case testing and preventative and tracing patient home visits.
In addition to these strategic areas and recognizing the dynamic nature of HIS and the PEPFAR program in Mozambique, FGH supports the development of other systems, mainly patient-centered mobile applications, under the leadership of the Government of Mozambique.