HISP (Health information Systems Program) is a global network of people, entities and organisations that design, implement and sustain Health Information Systems.  As a network, HISP globally follows a participatory approach to support local management of healthcare delivery and information flows, and was established by the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo.

HISP South Africa is a Section 21 not-for-profit non-governmental organisation (NPO/NGO) that specialises in the development and maintenance of health information systems – a member of the global HISP network. While they use computers and databases to capture and analyse information, they recognise that good paper-based data collection forms are the backbone for most computerised systems. Since their establishment in 2003, they have been innovating and implementing both paper-based and computerised systems for primary health care (PHC) and hospitals mainly in resource constrained settings.  They believe that health care data must be used for management purposes.  They support people who work at all levels in the health system hierarchy from data collectors in clinics and hospitals, to information managers and decision/policy makers at health district and national levels.

While their team is based across numerous centres in South Africa, they also support health information systems development in other countries in Africa. They have partnered with local organisations, universities, and ministries of health in Namibia, Botswana, Nigeria, Southern Sudan, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Liberia, Uganda, DRC (in French) and in South East Asia (India and Myanmar), and through these partnerships have developed local teams of health information practitioners.

They have a staff compliment of more than 50 full time staff: – this interalia includes a software development team of 9, a database management team of 10, a health information systems support- and training team of 27 full time staff members. They are supported by a competent administrative team of 6 who oversee project budget allocations and funding.

Their staff have expertise in many facets of information systems and health care.  They have medical doctors, nurses, social scientists, computer experts and informatics staff who all work together in a team approach. The qualifications in their team include PHDs, Masters, Honours, and bachelor degrees in Informatics, computer programming, and nursing science.  Their team is led by a Medical Specialist who also holds a PhD in Information Management, and HISP management reports to a board of directors.