WHO event addressing public health priorities
Keywords: HeRAMS, humanitarian response, emergency response, health resources, Eastern Mediterranean
Citation: World Health Organization. Regional workshop on HeRAMS implementation in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries. East Mediterr Health J. 2024;30(10):708. https://doi.org/10.26719/2024.30.10.708.
Copyright © Authors 2024; Licensee: World Health Organization. EMHJ is an open access journal. This paper is available under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo).
1Summary report on the regional workshop on HeRAMS implementation in FCV countries. https://applications.emro.who.int/docs/WHOEMCSR728E-eng.pdf
The Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS) is an electronic tool developed by WHO and partners for monitoring and assessing the availability of medical resources especially during emergency response and in fragile States (1). It was developed to ensure that core information about essential health resources and services is readily available to decision-makers at all levels. HeRAMS provides essential information needed to implement and monitor the achievement of several health-related agendas. It can enhance data integration and the use of triangulated data to improve decision-making. It has been developed for national, regional and global applications with an analytical framework, an implementation plan which includes fast-tracked implementation using different resources, a monitoring system, and a reporting tool (2–4).
Since its development, WHO has been supporting Member States to use HeRAMS for the standardization and continuous collection, analysis and dissemination of information on the availability of essential health services and resources down to the point of service delivery and to strengthen health information systems.
In December 2023, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO/EMRO) held a regional workshop on the implementation of HeRAMS for 9 fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries and territories — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, State of Palestinian, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen. The workshop was to facilitate the sharing of experience, knowledge and best practices to improve technical capacity and enable countries and territories to successfully implement HeRAMS as a core component of health information management systems in emergency, recovery and development contexts.
In all the 9 countries, HeRAMS data have been very helpful in identifying underserved populations and in mobilising funds and other resources for healthcare (1). Implementing HeRAMS has helped Iraq, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen to improve data quality and overall digitization of their health information systems, and they are using evidence from this for advocacy with donors (1). Afghanistan started using HeRAMS as a bridge to other systems, including management of medical supply chains (1). HeRAMS implementation was expanded from the Gaza Strip to other parts of the State of Palestine, and coordination between the Ministry of Health, WHO and health cluster partners in Somalia has enabled 40% of the main health facilities to contribute data to the health information system (1).
Recommendations to WHO
- Support awareness-raising for, and improvements in, the use of HeRAMS for decision-making, including in humanitarian and emergency settings in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
- Continue to support knowledge and experience sharing on the use of HeRAMS at country and regional levels.
References
- World Health Organization. Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS). Geneva: World Health Organization, n.d. https://www.who.int/initiatives/herams.
- World Health Organization. HeRAMS country implementations: Snapshot June 2024. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2024. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/herams-country-implementations-snapshot-2024-06.
- World Health Organization. HeRAMS Strategic Framework. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2022. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/herams-strategic-framework.
- World Health Organization. Health resources and services availability monitoring system (HeRAMS): external evaluation report, July 2019. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2019. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/339850.
