Laila Lokosang - Health management information systems, monitoring and evaluation

Overview

Laila Lokosang, Health Partners International’s representative in Southern Sudan, is a qualified statistician and health management information systems (HMIS) expert with more than 18 years of experience gained in sub-Saharan Africa. Laila has worked in Malawi and Sudan for a range of development partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the European Union and Southern Africa AIDS Training Programme (SAT). Laila is the founder and managing director of Health Evaluation and Research Trust (HEART) and a founder and interim chairman of the Medical Informatics Association of Malawi (MIAM).

Laila’s expertise includes:

  • database design and development
  • data processing, analysis and reporting
  • survey design
  • project monitoring and evaluation.


Background and relevant experience

Laila has extensive experience in handling data analysis using statistical software such as Epi Info, SPSS and SAS. He is also conversant in data manipulation using Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel, using data organisation tools such as pivot tables, Visual Basic query language and Crystal Report designing.

Laila is currently working as Director for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) on the Southern Sudan Commission for Census, Statistics and Evaluation. Previously, Laila was based in Malawi. There, he worked with Health Partners Southern Africa as a health information systems consultant and data analyst on the USAID-funded Hospital Autonomy Programme for the Ministry of Health. This included setting up an electronic nurse registry system and development of a database for recording and monitoring maternal deaths in Malawi.

Between 2001 and 2003 Laila was an M&E specialist on the Population and Family Planning Project in Malawi, funded by the World Bank. For seven years he worked as Health Information Systems Specialist attached to the Ministry of Health and Population in Malawi (1992–1999), during which time he designed the Government of Malawi’s Reproductive HMIS and associated data collection instruments.

Laila has been responsible for planning, organising and implementing a variety of surveys, including:

  • an under-five nutrition surveillance survey in Juba, Southern Sudan for UNICEF
  • health surveys for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Southern Sudan
  • a variety of baseline surveys and needs assessments for the Ministry of Health and Population in Malawi.

He contributed to the end of project evaluation report for the Population and Family Planning Project in Malawi and production of the Family Planning/Maternal and Child Health report 1990–95.

Laila’s training activities include:

 

  • training district-level staff in data management, data compilation and reporting procedures
  • organising training programmes for health statistics assistants in basic health statistics, basic concepts of epidemiology, computer skills and use of appropriate software for data analysis
  • organising training seminars for family planning providers, district and regional coordinators in family planning data management and use of information.

 

Laila has produced a variety of training documents including the Malawi Reproductive HMIS Trainer’s Guide, and Reproductive Health Software User’s Guide.