Kaduna State has taken a major step toward transforming its healthcare governance and planning systems with a stakeholder engagement meeting on the Health Facility Directory and Reclassification Exercise. The session, convened by the Kaduna State Ministry of Health with support from the Natview Foundation for Technology Innovation (NFTI), brought together key representatives from the State Primary Health Care Board (SPHCB), Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics (KDBS), zonal health offices, and local government health teams.
The meeting focused on harmonizing facility data across disparate health information platforms and operationalizing a unified classification framework under the Health Facility Enumeration and Functionality Assessment (HEFA) platform. For years, conflicting data on facility names, statuses, and classifications across platforms such as DHIS2, HRHMIS, e-ISS, and micro-planning tools have posed significant challenges to effective service delivery, resource planning, and emergency response in the state. Outdated classifications like “health posts” and “rural hospitals” have further complicated matters, prompting the need for a comprehensive review and alignment.
In his welcome remarks, Dr. Dutse of the Ministry of Health reaffirmed the state’s commitment to accurate and transparent data systems. The speech was followed by an overview of the reclassification initiative delivered by NFTI staff, who highlighted the goals, achievements, and urgency of standardizing facility records. They noted that facility classifications would now be limited to Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and Health Clinics (HCs) to ensure consistency.
One of the recurring issues raised during the discussions was the misalignment of data across platforms and the absence of a centralized protocol for updating facility information at the LGA level. Participants emphasized the need for a standard procedure that defines clear roles and responsibilities across state, zonal, and LGA actors. These concerns were highlighted during a thorough review of how new facilities are added and their functionality status is updated using the ODK tool, which requires checks at multiple levels—from the LGA HMIS Officer to the State Data Team and the Federal Ministry of Health. It was revealed that a significant number of upload rejections result from facilities being submitted under names too similar to existing ones, highlighting the need for stricter name confirmation and data reconciliation processes.
The Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics led a key session on aligning the HEFA directory with the forthcoming 2025 Health Facility Census. This alignment is viewed as critical for ensuring validated and representative data for effective planning, budgeting, and monitoring. There were also strong calls from stakeholders to triangulate human resource data from HRHMIS and equipment data from the ISS platform with HEFA to build a more comprehensive and functional directory. Additionally, participants requested that HEFA be equipped to host dashboards such as the AoP, creating a single digital entry point for all essential health data.
The engagement concluded with strong consensus around next steps, including the nomination of dedicated focal persons, improved access controls, and faster, more coordinated workflows. Stakeholders expressed optimism that with continued collaboration, Kaduna State is poised to establish a real-time, centralized, and reliable health facility directory that will support better health outcomes, more effective governance, and informed policymaking at all levels.
