Lessons and Recommendations

Rehabilitation services are a critical component of Universal Health Coverage, essential for optimizing functioning and reducing disability. In Ethiopia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has prioritized rehabilitation in response to significant health challenges, including an aging population, high rates of road traffic incidents, internal conflict, and an influx of injured refugees from neighboring conflict-affected countries. To improve service access, the MOH has launched a five-year National Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Strategic Plan.

The operationalization of this strategic plan requires extensive planning and decision-making at the national level, informed by quality rehabilitation data that accurately reflects the status of services in Ethiopia. However, existing health facility data does not provide insights into actual rehabilitation service volume, quality, and coverage.

To address this gap, the MOH, with support from the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator, developed rehabilitation indicators and piloted their integration into the existing health management information system at five selected health facilities. This initiative aimed to gather reliable, routine data on service delivery through the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2) platform, with the goal of improving the quality of rehabilitation services available to the population and supporting the objectives of the national strategic plan.

This report summarizes the pilot’s objectives, the methodology, and key lessons learned in facilitating the use of rehabilitation information for decision-making.