26 MyChild System users have been certified in Mukono District

26 nurses are now Certified users of MyChild System and have passed the first step of Shifo Academy. Last year nurses in Mukono District successfully passed MyChild System training and typing tests and were provided with the tools to empower them as change makers to improve child health service delivery. After the first level of certification, nurses can move on to reach Professional and Expert levels, and even have a chance to apply for one of the limited spaces in the Health Innovation Program in Sweden. The nurses showed great dedication and will continue to use the system and train to reach the next level of certification.

The one-day training took place in February and was kicked off by a refreshers training to further build capacity and introduce an updated version of MyChild System. Nurses have learned new features of the system and found that it had been simplified further to reduce administration and strengthen them in their work.

Most of the nurses started using MyChild System in the first quarter of 2014 and were new to computers when they were first introduced. Typing fast and accurately has proven to be the biggest challenge when starting to use the system. The nurses of Mukono are now experienced users and have developed their typing skills, but Shifo also introduced a typing game to help nurses who wants to speed up their typing and increase efficiency. Nurses got a chance to try the application and sped up their typing considerably after only 30 minutes.

At the training session, nurses were introduced to additional features of MyChild System. Further simplified follow-up application helps nurses to identify children due for vaccinations to ensure that children become fully immunised on time.Every Child Counts Report, which was developed together with stakeholders along the healthcare chain was also presented to the nurses. The report is automatically generated by MyChild system and contains information to enable stakeholders across the healthcare chain to quickly learn the progress/gaps in health service delivery, develop, implement and monitor interventions to cover the gaps in order to reach every child with preventive health services. Shuhrat Yusuf, Shifo Director of Implementation and Maintenance explains:

"MyChild System provides information on drop-outs and gaps in health service delivery so that appropriate action can be taken to improve on the situation. At the same time, the Follow-up application helps nurses identify children due for vaccination and ensure that they are vaccinated before they miss their vaccination window. With new intuitive and effective tools we are working together to improve timely health service delivery and reach every child with the full package of health services they are entitled to."

The nurses soon got the hang of the updated features. With one click the nurse can generate the follow-up list,which is particularly useful in preparation foroutreach vaccination sessions in remote villages as they are usually done only once or twice a month. Children living in these areas have fewer opportunities to get vaccinated which results in high numbers of children dropping out from vaccination. When identified in advance, they can be found during the outreach service delivery so that they do not miss the opportunity.

With the Every Child Counts reportand follow-up tool, nurses and managers are equipped to further increase vaccination coverage in the district and monitor the progress over time. Vaccination dropouts and under-vaccination are some of the biggest challenges resulting in high mortality and morbidity among children under the age of 5. Effective tools create new opportunities for successful development of appropriate interventions. At a click of a button, managers and decision makers can access up-to-date and reliable data and monitor progress in real time. It helps to develop interventions, which close the real gaps in the health sector and monitor their effectiveness over time in order to reach every child with essential health services no matter where they live.