Reporting and information deficiencies: a challenge for assessment of healthcare initiatives in Sudan, Dr. Anoud R. Omer and Prof. Asma El-Sony
Dr. Anoud R. Omer
Community Medicine Specialist
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Prof. Asma El-Sony
Epi-Lab Khartoum
Sudan
Dr. Habab Khalid El-Kheir
Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy
Sudan
Purpose: To discuss Tuberculosis (TB) registries deficiencies in Sudan and its effect on informing policy.
Approach: A review exploring the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) registries in 2010.
Findings: During a study to assess TB services at facility levels, NTP registries reported between 2008 and2010 were reviewed. Although crude detection rates were available, disaggregated data by age, gender and socioeconomic status were deficient and almost reported exclusively for smear-positive TB patients. This complicated assessing the external factors that affect TB services. Treatment outcomes reflected smear-positive cases and neglected other TB categories.
Policy implications: Lack of disaggregated data cannot reflect on TB community profile, and limiting reporting to smear-positive cases could not answer questions on true prevalence rates. The NTP needs to consider different TB categories when assessing old policies and/or developing new ones.
Keywords: Tuberculosis; TB registries; Information; Disaggregated data
Citation: Omer, A.R., El-Sony, A. and El-Kheir, H.K. (2016) : Reporting and Information Deficiencies: A Challenge for Assessment of Healthcare Initiatives in Sudan, International Journal of Sudan Research, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.42–48
