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“Strong health information frameworks lay the foundation for a thriving health system.”

Statement from José Luis Castro, President and CEO of Vital Strategies, on the award of USAID’s new $200 million Country Health Information Systems and Data Use (CHISU) Program:

“The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has underscored the urgent and critical role of health information systems in addressing our most pressing public health challenges. As a leader in the use of data to drive policy, Vital Strategies is proud to serve as a technical partner in the consortium selected to implement USAID’s new flagship Country Health Information Systems and Data Use Program. CHISU will support governments in strengthening their ability to make data the foundation of decision-making, a strategy that will ultimately mean more efficient and effective health programs that save more lives.

“Strong health information frameworks lay the foundation for a thriving health system. Evidence from Vital Strategies’ data-focused public health programs clearly demonstrates that building robust data systems for births, deaths, communicable diseases, and cancer and other non-communicable diseases is the first step. Equally important is deploying that data for enhanced public health policymaking. Vital Strategies’ mission is to ensure everyone, everywhere is protected by a strong public health system; our partnership in CHISU will allow us to further pave a path on which decision-making at all levels of public health best protects and serves all citizens of our global community.”

Vital Strategies is a partner on the newly-awarded USAID Country Health Information Systems and Data Use (CHISU) Program. CHISU will strengthen host-country capacity and leadership—creating ways to heighten self-reliance and leverage high-quality health information systems. The 5-year cooperative agreement has a budget ceiling of $200 million and is led by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. CHISU will work with national government partners, working to strengthen capacity and leadership in managing and employing high-quality health information systems, tailoring support to country-specific priorities. Other partners on the program are RTI International, Jembi Health Systems and Global Evaluation and Monitoring Network for Health.

About Vital Strategies’ public health intelligence work

Several public health programs within the Vital Strategies portfolio are related specifically to data improvements and public health intelligence. The Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Program assists governments in strengthening their systems for counting every birth and death and for monitoring the causes of death; the Data Impact Program supports governments to maximize the use of data to enhance public health policymaking and decision-making; and the Cancer Registry Program provides assistance to governments in establishing and strengthening population-based cancer registries.

All programs have worked in collaboration to produce guidance and technical assistance on COVID-19 for current government partners, enabling them to measure the scale of the crisis within their borders and execute a data-driven response.

Learn more:

Data Impact Program
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Improvement Program

About Vital Strategies

Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that tackle their most pressing public health problems. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising interventions at scale as rapidly as possible. To find out more, please visit vstrategystage.wpengine.com or Twitter @VitalStrat.

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Media Contact: Christina Honeysett, choneysett@vitalstrategies.org