Determinants oof data Quality in the HIV and AIDS Programme in Mutasa District

Abstract

The Ministry of Health and Child Care introduced a new monthly reporting tool for the HIV and AIDS programme in July 2021. The introduction of the new reporting tool caused an increase in the reporting errors that were registered at the District Health Information Office in Mutasa District. An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted in Mutasa District. Health care workers were interviewed to investigate the determinants of data quality in Mutasa District. A data quality assessment tool was used to conduct record reviews using the registers in the HIV and AIDS programme to determine the quality of the data. Data for the determinants of data quality was analysed using SPSS and Microsoft excel was used to analyse data from the data quality assessment tool .39 health care workers from 15 health facilities in Mutasa District participated in the study and 69.2 % of the participants were females and 30.8% were males. 74.4% were nurses .20.5% were Primary Care Counsellors and 5.15 % were data entry clerks. There was an association between the years of service of the health care workers and their level of knowledge with r=0.555 and p=0.002. Out of the 39 participants 10.3% had worked for the Ministry of Health for less than two years ,15.4 % two to five years and 64.1% for more than 10 years. 69.2% of the participants were trained in the reporting of HIV and AIDS data and 30.8% were not trained and 22.2 % of the trained participants attended a workshop ,70.4% were trained on the job and 7.4% attended a workshop and were also trained on the job. There was a strong association between attending a workshop and the participants’ level of knowledge with r=0.753; p=0.001. There was also a strong association between being trained on the job and the level of knowledge of the health care workers, r=0.598; p=0.011. The reporting tools were reported as not being user friendly by 61.0 % of the participants for the PMTCT Monthly Return Form and for the ZHI quasi by 88.0% of the participants. The major areas that were highlighted on the areas that needed improvement were the numerous indicators on the reporting tools. The weaknesses identified on the quasi were the duplication of indicators on the PMTCT monthly return form and having too many age bands. Poor completeness was observed in the documentation of the OI/ART patient care booklets with an average of 51.0% completeness across all the 15 facilities. The average completeness of the HIV testing services registers and the ART registers were both 86.0% and the ANC booking register had the highest completeness of 93.0%. Underreporting was noted on reporting the number of sexual partners or biological children of HIV positive clients who were tested for HIV with a verification factor of 85.0% which showed major data issues. Minor data issues were noticed for the total number for HIV and the total number of people initiated on ART with verification factors of 103.0% and 102.0% respectively.