Development and Validation of a Health Information System to Improve Prenatal Controls in Guatemala

Abstract

Reducing maternal mortality, one of the targets in the sustainable development goals, continues to be a challenge for many low- and middle-income countries. Initiatives that seek to address this problem often face difficulties in recording and managing information on antenatal check-ups. Information on controls is critical to be able to monitor pregnancy adequately and to be able to evaluate the results of interventions. This article details the process of developing and validating an information system used in a project to improve prenatal controls in rural areas of Guatemala. The development of the system began with a needs analysis in which local institutions participated, and OpenMRS, a free software tool, was selected for implementation. The proposed information system became operational in September 2014 and, by December 2016, had already registered more than 10,000 attendances. The cases reported increased progressively in that period while the percentage of completed forms improved, reaching close to 100% at the end of the analysis period. The tool also allowed 99.31% of cases to be reviewed by specialists. The analysis results show that the system was adopted by health personnel, although some aspects of improvement that should be considered in future versions have been identified.