ASSESSMENT OF ROUTINE HEALTH INFORMATION USE FOR DECISION MAKING AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS During The Era Of COIVD-19

Background: The swift spread of COVID-19 has upended health systems and affected all health services. One of them is the disruption of routine health information which  is a vital for planning, monitoring and evaluation thereby improving health outcomes. Moreover, in developing countries including Ethiopia, the level of use of routine health information for decision making is low and the insufficient quality of the data produced limits their usefulness.

Objective: To assess health information use for decision making and associated factors among health care providers of Awi Zone health institutions, 2020.

Methods: Facility based cross-sectional study design in triangulation with qualitative approach was conducted at public health institutions of Awi Zone, Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 562 study participants were included through stratified sampling technique. Ten key informants were included for interview by intensity sampling. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire and in depth interview. The data was analyzed by logistic regressions using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 25. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically.

Result: The level of use of data for decision making was 55.93% at 95% CI (53.71-58.15). The health center healthcare providers (AOR=5.61: 2.23-14.08), not taking training on data analysis (AOR=0.37: 0.196-0.71), the inability to calculate rate (AOR=0.47: 0.26-0.85), timeliness of data (AOR=4.114: 1.698-9.968), credibility of data (AOR=9.33:4.23-20.55), frequency of displaying key performance indicators (AOR=3.49: 1.46-8.38), no access to health information (AOR=0.54; 0.31-0.93) were found significantly associated with routine health information use for decision making.

Conclusion and Recommendation: Nearly half of health care providers were unable to use routine data for decision making. Type of health institution, training on data analysis, ability to calculate rate, timeliness of data, credibility of data, frequency of displaying key indicators and access to health information were factors related to routine health information use. Addressing these issues is highly recommended for improving routine health information use.

Key words: Use of data for decision making, health care providers, Awi zone, Ethiopia