GHIA STRATEGY PLAN

8/19/2019 GHIA STRATEGY PLAN

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Nutefe

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www.ghanahia.org | [email protected]

Contents

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3

GHIA’s Core Purpose .............................................................................................................................. 4

Mission ................................................................................................................................................. 4

Vision .................................................................................................................................................... 4

Environmental Scan ................................................................................................................................. 5

Business/Economic Climate Trends ......................................................................................................... 5

Demographic Trends ................................................................................................................................ 6

Placement/Scheme of Service .................................................................................................................. 6

Access to Information .............................................................................................................................. 6

Population Health Management ............................................................................................................... 7

Legislation/Regulation Trends ................................................................................................................. 7

Political/Social Value Trends ................................................................................................................... 7

Need for Active Members ........................................................................................................................ 7

Attracting new Professionals .................................................................................................................... 8

Competition with Other Professionals ..................................................................................................... 8

Technology/Science Trends ..................................................................................................................... 8

Communication ........................................................................................................................................ 8

Natural Language Processing and Understanding.................................................................................... 8

Mobility .................................................................................................................................................... 8

Privacy and Security ................................................................................................................................. 9

Other Key Trends ..................................................................................................................................... 9

Certification of Members ...................................................................................................................... 9

Difficulty for HI Students to obtain Jobs-Post Completion ................................................................. 9

GHIA’s Envisioned Future ....................................................................................................................... 9

Strategic Plan for the Next Four Years .................................................................................................. 12

Membership Attraction and Retention................................................................................................ 12

Funding and Sustainability ................................................................................................................. 13

Dues from Members........................................................................................................................ 14

Certification and Publications ......................................................................................................... 14Grants and Corporate Funding ........................................................................................................ 15


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Marketing and Publicity ..................................................................................................................... 15

Capacity Building ........................................................................................................................... 16

Participation and Hosting of International Conferences ................................................................. 17

Workshops, Symposiums, Seminars & Research ........................................................................... 17

Media Engagements ........................................................................................................................ 18

International and Local Collaborations .............................................................................................. 19


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Introduction

As Information and Communication Technology continue to revolutionarise every aspect of human

endeavour, many countries have actually risen to the occasion and thus reached an advanced stage of

tapping its phenomenal potential to healthcare delivery. Besides, as health systems in low- and middle-

income countries continue to face considerable challenges in providing high-quality, affordable and

universally accessible care, policy-makers, donors and programme implementers had started searching

for innovative approaches to eliminate the geographic and financial barriers to health. This has resulted

in mounting interest in the potential of e-health (the use of ICT for health) and m-health (the use of

mobile technology for health, a subset of e-health) in low- and middle-income countries. Although

efforts in this regard in Ghana are currently at its infant stage, many pilot projects in the area of e-

health and m-health exist in many parts of Ghana. The ultimate aim of which is to gather experience

for full blown deployment across the length and breadth of the country.

In response to this trend, many tertiary institutions such as University of Ghana, Catholic University

College of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have started running

graduate and postgraduate programmes in Health Informatics to produce highly skilled graduates to

manage the various e-health projects and platforms in the country.

Although these professionals are being trained, no effort had been made to develop a scheme of

service for their placement within the Ghana Health Service (GHS). Again, prior to 2011, there was no professional grouping to represent their interest and to assist them in their professional pursuits.

However, in 2011, the Ghana Health Informatics Association (GHIA) was established and dully

registered as a professional society according to the laws of Ghana. GHIA aims at improving

healthcare delivery through the promotion of Health Informatics and e-health in Ghana.

It is in furtherance of the above that this four year strategic plan is developed to help build and

consolidate the structures of GHIA as well as build the capacity of its members to live-up to the

opportunities and challenges that are emerging as a result of the deployment of e-health and m-health

platforms in the country.


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GHIA’s Core Purpose

The mission, vision and core values of GHIA serves as goal posts which constantly points to its

management as to whether they are on the right path or not. These are outlined below.

Mission

GHIA provides leadership to the Health Informatics community to:

a)

Extend accessibility of Ghanaians to healthcare delivery through modern and cutting edge ICT

platforms and solutions.

b)

Support evidence based-decision making in clinical and public health practices

c) Aid health research and professional education through e-content innovations

d) Advocate on behalf of its members

e) Provide opportunities for learning and professional development in Health Informatics and e-

health.

Vision

GHIA will improve healthcare delivery in Ghana through Information and Communication

Technology (ICT), research and health information management.

• Professionalism

Illustrated in the continiousdevelopment of leadership, technicaland professional competencies of itsmembers

• Innovation

Illustrated in its continious forge of partnerships with government,industry, academia, professionalgroupings, media and international

bodies to develop impregnableehealth solutions

• Integrity

Illustrated in the openess in decision

making, honesty in its operations andhigh ethical standards across theentire spectrum of GHIA

• Humanity

Illustrated in its desire to extendhealthcare to the rural folks and theunder previlage using modern ICTsolutions

COREVALUES


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Environmental Scan

In other to aid its strategic planning process, existing trends that are most likely to affect the healthcare

delivery process and the overall operations of GHIA were identified using key environmental scanning

tools pertaining to Health Informatics and e-health. These are explained below.

Business/Economic Climate Trends

This denotes the economic forces shaping both GHIA’s opportunities and its member’s needs relative

to GHIA and the value it offers.

In the light of the chronic shortage of healthcare professionals in Ghana; e-Health, the use of

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support healthcare, promise to ease this

Business /

EconomicClimateTrend

Political/

Social ValueTrends

GHIA


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problem. However, observations shows that there is a tendency for e-Health projects to grow in

number in some African countries over time; that African countries with larger Gross National

Incomes tend to attract more e-Health projects; that e-Health projects in Africa focus on telemedicine,

health education and health-related research; that there is a wide range of funding bodies, some of

which have a geographical focus, the number of m-Health projects has been rising sharply and

government budgetary allocation to the health sector appears to be weaning. Ghana is one of the

African countries which appears to witness many e-health projects.

Demographic Trends

This represents the placement and age profile of existing and prospective members of GHIA and how

their environment affects their view.

Placement/Scheme of Service

As it stands, no needs assessment has been conducted in Ghana to ascertain the number of Health

Informatics professionals (HIP) that will be needed each year, the skill sets needed on the job and a

scheme of service for such Professionals. There is even no clear understanding of what HIP really does

within the top management of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ministry of Health (MoH).

This explains why notwithstanding their training and competencies, most members of GHIA find

themselves outside the employment of the GHS.

Access to Information

Apparently, technology has created an unavoidable global economy by availing digital information to

people without regard to where they are located. Ghanaians all over the country are gaining more

education and exposure to new ideas and information and creating communities with others who share

similar interests or expertise. Businesses and individuals are increasingly collaborating virtually

without regard to location. To support this phenomenon, information must be managed in new ways

including better consolidation of data and meta-tagging for scalability and communities must be

fostered virtually to attract new members and expertise.


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Population Health Management

Information can now be made more widely available and for a broader range of uses than ever before.

Opportunities therefore exist for population wide and public health data to be made available via the

internet on web portals for Government agencies, researchers and NGOs to identify trends in the

occurrence, prevalence and management of health conditions.

Legislation/Regulation Trends

The legislative framework paints a picture of viable prospects for the diffusion of e-health solutions in

Ghana. A multitude of legislations and policies on e-health and other ancillary aspects of ICT exist in

the country. Whiles most of these acts and policies relate directly to the development, deployment and

maintenance of e-health platforms in Ghana, others sets out the regulatory framework to guide the

practice of ICT in general. Some of these include:

1) ICT4AD

2) National E-health Strategy (2010)

3)

Health Sector ICT Policy and Strategy

4) E-health Plan

5) National ICT Policy (2008)

6) Allied Health Professions Act (2011)

7)

Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843)

8) Electronic Communication Act (775)

All these legislations and policies are the driving forces behind the wind of reform in the health sector

to make room for the application of e-health solutions. This will apparently trigger a high demand of

HIP.

Political/Social Value Trends

This reflects the social and cultural issues affecting the GHIA’s opportunities and shaping member’s

desire for, and attitudes towards the value offered by GHIA

Need for Active Members

Human capital is always in great demand including educated members who bring diverse and

specialized skills to elevate and advocate for GHIA. Active members lend a voice to change and help

to set example within their own environment. GHIA must continue to engage and develop its

membership base and become inclusive of new groups and expertise in order to support its initiatives.


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Attracting new Professionals

The emerging demands for HIP are opening doors to diverse job openings. However the inadequacy of

HIP with the core competencies needed to fill such position pose a great challenge. GHIA therefore

risk losing such positions to non-HIP who might not have the will to champion issues relating to

informatics in the country. There is therefore the need to enhance continuous professional development

training and certification programmes to systematically enhance the skill set of HIPs.

Competition with Other Professionals

HIP are competing with other professionals such as Statisticians, Health Information Management

professionals, Computer Scientists and Information Technology professionals for limited job openings

in the health sector. The lines between these professionals are becoming very blurred. Efforts therefore

need to be initiated by GHIA to develop the professional competencies of members to the state that

they become almost indispensable relative to the afore-mentioned professionals.

Technology/Science Trends

This relates to how current development in science and technology can help in collecting, storing,

sharing and managing information

Communication

Social media and portable devices such as smartphones and tablets with downloadable applications

have the potential to revolutionize the Health Informatics (HI) and e-health landscape in ways

probably unconceivable. More opportunities to communicate using a multiplicity of methods and tools

will aid members and Ghanaians to seek advice and gain knowledge previously impossible.

Natural Language Processing and Understanding

A country as ethnically diverse (72 ethnic groups), Ghana could benefit tremendously from Natural

Language Processing and Understanding technologies. This will not only reduce the time health

professionals spend in entering data but will also facilitate health promotion through customized

education to meet the needs of various ethnic groupings.

Mobility

Mobile access will also provide new challenges and opportunities and require trained HIP to take the

lead. Access will not be limited to health data systems but also to patients through their Personal


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Health Record (PHR) and possibly the onset of applications. Consumer education will be required to

ensure that patients know how to access their records and that it can be trusted and used by HIP

irrespective of where they are.

Privacy and Security

As accessibility and sharing of patient records across multiple service providers and government

agencies are set to increase, there is the need to ensure that such records are secured.HIP have an

important role to play in this direction.

Other Key Trends

Certification of MembersApparently, certification adds value to an employer and immense benefits to the individual member.

However, except for international certification programmes, non-exist in Ghana to provide continuous

professional training to members of GHIA and prospective members. GHIA therefore needs to come

out with a certification programme for its members.

Difficulty for HI Students to obtain Jobs-Post Completion

Students pursuing Health Informatics at the various levels find it difficult to obtain jobs after

completion for lack of experience. This often results in disillusionment culminating in many leaving

the profession altogether. Obviously, there is the need for GHIA to provide additional professional

training for members after completing school as well as liaise with the GHS and MoH to develop a

scheme of service for HIP.

GHIA’s Envisioned Future

In line with its mission, GHIA envisions a future where healthcare and quality health information will

be brought to the doorsteps of Ghanaians irrespective of where they live through modern and cutting

edge e-health platforms and solutions. This is hoped to promote evidence based-decision making in

clinical and public health interventions as well as raise awareness of Ghanaians on healthy lifestyle

choices. GHIA also envisions a drastic and pragmatic transformation of the academic and professional

training of clinicians, public health professionals and allied health practitioners through e-content

innovations. Again, in the light of the disproportionate distribution of healthcare facilities and

practitioners as against the deep penetration of mobile phones in Ghana, GHIA looks forward to the

infusion of telemedicine and m-health platforms to aid e-consultation, e-prescription, etc. Ultimately,


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GHIA, envisions a complete automated health system where data interoperability, integration and

sharing across multiple healthcare providers and regulators is possible.

However, this cannot be feasible without empowering HIPs who are the ultimate driving forces behind

complete automation of the healthcare system. GHIA therefore envisions a highly trained and

competent membership base to optimise the opportunities that automation will engender. Highly

skilled HIPs will among others provide leadership across the entire spectrum of the e-health landscape

by leading the conceptualization process, design, testing, deployment, maintenance and reengineering

of e-health, m-health and other health ICT projects in the country. Partnership with both local and

international institutions and professional bodies will aid tremendously in this regard through

certification and other research programmes that will assist members to further their professional

development in Health Informatics and e-health.

Apparently, all these will amount to nothing without creating avenues for placement for members and

prospective members in the GHS, research institutions and other relevant government agencies. GHIA

therefore envisions that job openings for members will be an unavoidable consequence or bye-product

of automation. A more symbiotic relationship between GHIA, GHS and educational institutions in

curriculum development and certification for HIPs is envisaged.

GHIA envisages that advocacy over the years will gradually be undertaken by members in their

respective career paths through both verbal lobbying and track professional performance. Advocacy is

mostly effective when it is backed by results. Consequently, GHIA foresees impregnable strategic

alliances and partnerships through research and representation to members in all relevant national and

international bodies. GHIA’s envisioned future is illustrated in the diagram below:


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CONTINUED ADVOCACY,RESEARCH AND

REPRESENTATION FORMEMBERS

SCHEME OF SERVICE FOR HIP

INCREASEDPARTNERSHIPS AND

PROFESSIONAL TRAININGFOR MEMBERS

COMPLETE AUTOMATION OF THEHEALTHCARE SYSTEM


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Strategic Plan for the Next Four Years

GHIA within the next four years intends to pursue the key thematic areas illustrated by the diagram

below

Membership Attraction and Retention

Membership attraction and retention is key to the viability of every professional society. This provides

the human capital needed to create a niche for the Association within the ecosystem of a mirage of

other competing professional societies. Membership attraction forms a very important part of the move

towards creating a high valued association but what is more herculean is retaining and sustaining the

active participation of these members once on board. To accomplish these, GHIA shall within the next

four years undertake the following:

1) Provide sound and responsible leadership for members

2) Provide representation for members on all relevant national and international bodies to

champion member’s interests.

3) Undertake a needs assessment to ascertain the training needs and vacancies that exist for

members. This shall among others look at:

Vacancies

MEMBERSHIPATTRACTION& RETENTION

FUNDING &SUSTAINABILITY

MARKETING &

PUBLICITY

LOCAL &INTERNATIONALCOLLABORATIONS


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Skills required

Training needs

4) Engage the MoH and the GHS to develop a Scheme of Service (SoS) for HIPs in Ghana

5) Develop professional certification programmes in collaboration with a tertiary institution

running Health Informatics to train members and prospective members.

6) Maintain formal and routine communication with all members

7) Form many Working Groups (WG), Committees and sub-committees with the view of

involving as many members as possible. Some of these could include:

Funding and Sustainability

Membership and Outreach

Certification and Professional Development

Editorial and Publication

Scientific

Publicity and Media Relation

8) Adopt a targeting model of reaching out to students and other relevant professionals through

seminars and workshops.

9)

Produce membership ID Cards, T-shirts and others for members

10) Optimise the use of modern social networking platforms such as Watsapp Twitter and

Facebook to engender discussions and interests in issues of the association

Funding and Sustainability

Funding is the blood vein which keeps every professional society running. Whiles well established

societies have various funding options opened to them, GHIA is relatively young and thus needs to

adapt and evolve more ingenious ways of raising funds for its operations. Fortunately, there is great

enthusiasm for e-health at both the local and international arena. Some of the time tested means of

raising funds for professional societies as illustrated in the diagram below shall be explored by GHIA.


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Dues from Members

Efforts shall be made to motivate all categories of GHIA’s membership to pay dues. This could be

achieved through value addition and continued membership engagements. Other auxiliary sources such

as:

Issuing and renewals of membership cards

T-shirts and Locusts

Key Holders

Diaries

Calendars Stickers

Professional Recommendations

Attestations

Certification and Publications

Certification of members and prospective members could be a major avenue for raising funds to

manage the affairs of the association. This could be accomplished through strategic partnerships with

institutions such as School of Public Health (SPH), Kofi Annan ICT Centre and Ghana Technology

DUES

CERTIFICATIONS

PUBLICATIONS

GRANTS

CORPORATE FUNDING


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University College. The proceeds thereof could be shared using a pre-determined criteria. GHIA could

in the long term build capacity in both infrastructural and human capital required to acquire

accreditation for such certifications. This could also include short e-health course modules, workshops

and seminars for all category of health professionals.Additional funds could be raised through

publications. A journal on e-health and Health Informatics could be launched to generate funds and

create awareness on GHIA’s activities. To realise these, GHIA shall within the next four years:

Constitute a Publication Committee (PC) to start the process of launching and sustaining the e-

health and health informatics journal

Create a Professional Certification Working Group (PCWG) to engage relevant stakeholders in

the process of commencing professional Certification and short courses in Ghana.

Grants and Corporate FundingAlthough a lot of e-health pilot projects exist in Ghana, opportunities still exist for GHIA to apply for

grants to fund its own e-health projects and research. International organizations and foundations such

as Rockefeller Foundation, Melinda-Gates Foundation, WHO, DANIDA, etc. could be contacted for

that purpose. The same institutions could also be contacted to help construct a centre of excellence for

health informatics in Ghana.Corporate organizations such as mining companies, Telcos, software

companies, banks, tertiary institutions, media houses, insurance companies, etc.can also be called upon

for support in funding specific projects.

To achieve these, GHIA shall Setup a Funding and Sustainability Committee (FSC) to:

Devise means of raising funding for the association

Developing proposals for sponsorships and grants

Marketing and Publicity

Cardinal to the survival of any professional society is noticeability and impact. As a young association,

GHIA needs go the extra mile to market itself. Fortunately however, the wind of e-health and healthICT as driving forces for efficiency, accessibility and transformation is in GHIA’s favour. All GHIA

needs to do is to allow preparation meet opportunity with the ultimate goal of making GHIA a

household name and the sole authority on health informatics and e-health in Ghana. The roadmap to

accomplishing this is illustrated in the diagram below.


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Capacity Building

Quality human capital is perhaps one of the greatest tramp cards and assets of any professional society.

Indeed, as regards the effective marketing of GHIA, one of the time tested approach is to build the

professional acumen and competencies of members to a level that will enable them to exhort

confidence in their employers, clients and the general public. This in turn will market the association

as they will serve as advocates for GHIA and what it stands for. To build a critical mass of highly

skilled and knowledgeable HIP to serve as worthy ambassadors of the association, the following core

skill areas of members needs to be systematically upgraded:

Mobile and computer programming

Database Development and Management

OpenMRS development

Health Information Management

Cloud Technology

Medical imaging

Health Systems Analysis and Design

Health System and Processes

Big Data

Research

Artificial Intelligence

Capacity Building

Participation

& Hosting of

International

Conferences

Workshops,

Symposiums,Seminars & Research

Media

Engagements


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Medical Coding

Networking

Electronic Health Records

Advance concepts in e-health, m-health and telemedicine

Entrepreneurship

Standards and legal framework on eHealth in Ghana

In the short term, GHIA could make arrangements for its members to be prepared to write international

professional ICT certifications such as Oracle, Microsoft, CISCO, Information Security, Medical

Coding and Health Information Management certifications.

Participation and Hosting of International Conferences

Participation and hosting of international conferences is another important way of marketing professional societies. Aside the media coverage which goes with such programmes, it also helps in

galvanizing both political and stakeholder support locally. GHIA will therefore participate and host

the following international conferences and programmes:

HELINA

OpenMRS

IMIA

International Society for e-health and Telemedicine

Workshops, Symposiums, Seminars & Research

A vast knowledge gap exists in the sphere of health ICT among various categories of healthcare

professionals in Ghana. This is particularly conspicuous in the area of health information sharing,

security, mining and emerging e-health platforms that could transform the health system in Ghana.

GHIA will within the next four years tap into this virgin field to market itself as well as raise revenue

for the operations of the association through the following:

Workshops

This will be to train healthcare professionals and members on the essentials of e-health and how to

maximise their performance through the application of ICT. Efforts shall be made to ensure that the

quality of such workshops exceeds participant’s expectations. The quality of s uch workshops shall go

a long way to market the association and its activities.


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Symposiums and Seminars

Although many pilot projects in the area of e-health (especially mobile applications) are currently been

undertaken in Ghana, very little opportunity exist for the sharing of experiences and findings except at

international conferences. Within the next four years, GHIA could engage all the relevant stakeholders

in this respect to provide a one big annual platform for them to share experiences and findings. This

effort will be aimed primarily at bringing together industry, developers, academia, relevant

government agencies and institutions, professional societies and NGOs to promote e-health in Ghana.

Apparently, this will provide a great opportunity to market GHIA.

Research

GHIA within the next four years shall systematically spearhead research in the area of health

informatics and e-health in Ghana and the finding thereof appropriately disseminated through the

various avenues most likely to create awareness and publicise the association. The association shall

also support relevant student’s research and partner academia strategically in the area of e -health. To

this end, a quarterly thematic report on the health system in Ghana shall be published from the

perspective of GHIA.

Media Engagements

The traditional model of creating publicity and marketing an institution through print and electronic

media shall be ingeniously blended with social media to make GHIA a household name. GHIA shall

accomplish this by:

Involving the various media houses in all major events of the association.

Courting the good will of the most popular media houses in Ghana.

Creating a media monitoring committee to monitor all news items with the view of filtering for

issues bordering on informatics for immediate commenting where possible.

Designating and grooming at least two people to comment on all issues pertaining to

informatics on the various media platforms.

Developing a marketing portfolio document on GHIA with the view of introducing the

association to the various TV and FM stations to ensure that the association is contacted on all

issues pertaining to informatics on their platforms.

Issuing routine press releases on key topical issues affecting e-health and health informatics in

Ghana.

Organizing occasional press conferences to address issues on e-health


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Advertising Health Informatics or e-health workshops, seminars, symposiums and professional

certification programmes on the various media platforms

Employing the various social media platforms to reach out to Ghanaians.

International and Local Collaborations

Indeed as national and professional boundaries are gradually been eroded, the best approach to achieve

GHIA’s goals is through symbiotic collaborations and partnerships. This will enable the association to

ride on the fame and structures of other bodies to come into lime light. The under listed are some of

the local and international institutions and bodies that GHIA can collaborate with. This model is

illustrated below.

FUNDING & PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

INTERNATIONAL

COLLABORATION

LOCAL

COLLABORATION


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These collaborations shall be aimed at:

Building the professional capacity of GHIA members

Boosting the image of the association locally and internationally

Raising revenue for the operations of the association

Creating job opportunities for members

Encouraging the adoption of e-health in Ghana

Building a vibrant industry of e-health solutions in Ghana

INTERNATIONAL

IMIA

ISfTeH

HELINA

OPenMRS

WHO

NGOs

Rockefeller Foundation

Melinda-Gates Foundation

Other Philanthropic Organizations

Embassys and High Commissions

Gov't Agencies (DANIDA, etc)

LOCAL

Relevant Tertiary Institutions

Kofi Annan ICT Center

Research Institutions

MoH

GHS

NIITA

Corporate Bodies

Relevant Professional Groupings

NHIA

NIA

Ghana Aids Commission


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Increasing the awareness of other health professionals in the potential of health informatics to

their work

Engendering government support for health informatics in Ghana

Influencing the curriculum for training health informatics, health information and other health

professionals.

Influencing policy formulation on health informatics in Ghana.

GHIA STRATEGY PLAN

Documents

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