Countries across Africa are being urged to strengthen their health information systems, as gaps in the collection, sharing and use of health data continue to affect healthcare planning and service delivery.

The World Health Organization says reliable health data are essential for governments to make informed decisions, allocate resources and improve health outcomes.

The issues are at the centre of the first Africa Health Data Forum, which begins on Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together governments, health experts and development partners to discuss ways of improving health data systems across the continent.

For more on the challenges facing African countries and what needs to change, we spoke Dr Hillary Kipruto, a Technical Officer for Health Information and Knowledge Management at the WHO Regional Office for A

frica.