Timeliness and completeness of monthly disease surveillance data reporting, Uganda, 2020–2021

Abstract

Abstract Background Timely and complete reporting of routine public health information about diseases and public health events are important aspects of a robust surveillance system. Although data on the completeness and timeliness of monthly surveillance data are collected in the District Health Information System-2 (DHIS2), they have not been routinely analysed. For this study, we assessed completeness and timeliness of monthly outpatient department (OPD) data from January 2020 to December 2022.Methods We used DHIS2 data from all 15 regions and 146 districts of Uganda from January 2020─December 2021. Completeness was defined as the number of submitted reports divided by the number of expected reports from the same health facility, district, and region. Timeliness was defined as the number of reports submitted by the deadline (15th day of the following month) divided by reports received. Health facilities, districts, and regions with completeness or timeliness < 80% were regarded as having submitted incomplete or untimely reports.Results Overall, there was good general performance with the median completeness of OPD reports being high in 2020 (99.5%; IQR 97.8–100%) and 2021 (100%; IQR 98.7–100%), as was the median timeliness (2020; 82.8%, IQR 74.6–91.8%; 2021, 94.9%, IQR 86.5–99.1%). In terms of regions, no region reported below the 80% OPD completeness target; Kampala Region was the only region that consistently failed to reach ≥ 80% OPD timeliness (2020: 44%; 2021: 65%). Nakasongola was the only district that consistently performed poorly in the submission of timely reports in both years (2020:54.4%, 2021:58.3%). National referral hospitals consistently failed to meet the timeliness target in both years (2020:47.2%; 2021:74.1).Conclusion There was an overall good performance in the submission of complete and timely monthly OPD reports in both 2020 and 2021 in the DHIS2 across most districts and regions in Uganda. There is a need to strengthen the good reporting practices exhibited and offer support to regions, districts, and health facilities with timeliness challenges.