Performance of the routine health information system for epidemiological surveillance of road traffic injuries in Benin

Abstract

Road crashes are the leading cause of death among people aged 15 and above. The routine health information system is used to monitor common hospital illnesses, including road traffic injuries. The objective of this study was to evaluate its performance in the surveillance of road traffic injuries in Benin in 2019. This was an evaluative study, based on updated guidelines from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to evaluate a public health surveillance system. Performance was assessed on the basis of utility and quality criteria (simplicity, flexibility, acceptability, completeness, exhaustiveness, stability, responsiveness, representativeness and reactivity). The data collection techniques used was document review and interview. The system was considered useful and produced indicators on road traffic injuries each year within an average of five months. Its strengths were its representativeness (100%), stability (100%) and simplicity (83%). Acceptability, exhaustiveness and completeness were the main areas for improvement in the system with scores of 51.4, 38.07 and 16.27%, respectively. The routine health information system presents indicators of insufficient acceptability and low integration with other existing collection systems for road traffic injuries. Improving performance for better planning in road safety requires a more holistic approach in the implementation and functionality of the system.