From Routine to Revolt: Improving Routine Health Data Quality and Relevance by Making Them Public

Health Information Systems in developing countries struggle with vicious cycles of lack of information use. Substantial investment has been spent to improve the situation but results are still very limited. Adding to the body of research on strategies and solutions to break out of such cycles, this paper focuses on the effects of making routine data public through mass media and using data to fuel debates on critical health issues. Based on an action research project building a reporting system for accidents and emergencies during the Tet holiday in Vietnam, this paper discuss how making data public can have direct impact on the use and quality of health data in the health system. We discuss and draw implications related to tactics to improve the demand and use of routine health data.