AFRO-NETS> Book: "Health in Namibia - Progress and Challenges"

[Marc Lejars <psantewh@mweb.com.na>]

Book: "Health in Namibia - Progress and Challenges"
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Selma el Obeid, John Mendelsohn, Marc Lejars, Norbert Forster and 
Gérard Brulé

107 pp., compiled, designed and published by RAISON
(Research and Information Services of Namibia)
PO Box 80044
Windhoek, Namibia

Health workers often complain about the work required to gather 
Health Information System data on tally sheets, then to sum and 
transfer it to monthly report forms. Especially at the facility 
level, the burden of Health Information System-related work is usu-
ally unrecognized and unrewarded, and its fruits are rarely enjoyed.

A book "Health in Namibia: Progress and Challenges" published for the 
"Support to Primary Health Care Project" of the Ministry of Health 
and Social Services and the Service for Cooperation and Cultural Af-
fairs of the French Embassy in Namibia is an example of what can be 
done using Geographical Information System and Health Information 
System data. In effect, the book is largely the result of all those 
tally sheets and monthly report forms that were maintained and sub-
mitted, and all the data entry that was done between 1995 and 2000.

It provides an overall profile of the health in Namibia, and graphs, 
maps and tables provide wealth information on the health of Namibians 
in different areas of the country. This book serves as a tribute to 
the efforts of health workers who routinely manage facilities and op-
erate the HIS.

Therefore, Health in Namibia has been distributed in all health fa-
cilities of the country. Moreover, the book may be downloaded, chap-
ter-by-chapter, in Adobe PDF format files on the Ministry of Health 
and Social Services Web Site: 
http://www.healthnet.org.na/grnmhss/htm/healthinnam1.htm

We hope it will not be hoarded away or languish on a shelf somewhere, 
but that it will be shared amongst health workers to be read and dis-
cussed. And we also hope it may help to serve as something of an in-
spiration to continue efforts toward improving health in Namibia.

Dr Marc Lejars
PO Box 11987
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: +264-81-129-6868
Fax: +264-61-203-2418
mailto:psantewh@mweb.com.na

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