Botswana’s health information systems (HIS) have long been fragmented, with siloed data, incomplete reporting and a mix of digital and paper tools complicating the flow of information. This has led to inefficiencies in healthcare delivery and gaps in data that are critical for decision-making. Even with recent investments in health information exchange (HIE), there’s been a lack of clear guiding principles, making integration across the sector difficult. The private sector’s limited involvement in public health systems has only added to the challenge, resulting in isolated and disconnected HIS infrastructure.
To address this, UCSF partnered with Botswana’s Ministry of Health (MOH) and local stakeholders to create an enterprise architecture (EA) that brings together health services, IT infrastructure and operations. The goal is to align these elements to improve healthcare delivery, optimize resource use and enhance patient outcomes while supporting Botswana’s digital transformation efforts.
The Informatics Hub team, alongside experts from the University of Botswana, used globally recognized frameworks like The Open Group Framework (TOGAF) and OpenHIE to guide the process. They conducted thorough reviews of existing national documents, including the National Health Policy and Botswana’s eHealth Strategy, as well as successful EA implementations in Kenya and Tanzania.
Through stakeholder engagement and a collaborative project plan, the team developed a comprehensive EA blueprint. This blueprint outlines the baseline architecture across business, data, application and technology domains. It has been validated by key stakeholders to ensure it’s practical and implementable.
The EA, led by MOH with strong support from local and international partners, aims to transform Botswana’s primary healthcare services by 2030. It provides a secure, interoperable and standardized digital health framework that supports high-quality patient-centered care. With increasing investments in HIE and HIS, this EA will also serve as a foundation for future innovations, such as telemedicine which is gaining interest in the country.
