PRISM Tools for Community Health Information Systems

New resource in the Performance of Routine Information System Management (PRISM) suite of tools:

February 2019, JSI’s Tariq Azim, Jeanne Chauffour, and Upama Khatri, through MEASURE Evaluation, authored PRISM Tools for Community Health Information Systems (PRISM Tools for CHIS). The tool is an adaptation of the PRISM conceptual framework and its associated tools for designing, strengthening, and evaluating routine health information systems (RHIS) performance.

MEASURE Evaluation developed the PRISM Framework and suite of tools in 2011 for global use in assessing the reliability and timeliness of a RHIS, in making evidence-based decisions, and in identifying gaps in an RHIS so they can be addressed and the system can be improved.

The PRISM conceptual framework emphasizes strengthening RHIS performance through better data quality and improved information use. PRISM broadens the analysis of RHIS performance to include three categories of determinants: behavioral determinants, technical determinants, and organizational determinants.

The PRISM framework is as applicable to a community health information system (CHIS) as it is to a national one. PRISM Tools for CHIS is an adaptation of the PRISM Tools specifically intended for evaluating the performance of a CHIS.