Data-Informed Health Leadership in Somalia: A Narrative Policy Review of Digital Health Systems, Analytics Capacity and Subnational Decision-Making

@article{osman2026datainformed,
  title = {{Data-Informed Health Leadership in Somalia: A Narrative Policy Review of Digital Health Systems, Analytics Capacity and Subnational Decision-Making}},
  author = {Osman NH and Osman HM and Roble AM and Mohamed DO and Omar AA and Rage AN and Abdi AM and Iman MI and Moallim Abdullahi AA and Jimale AM and Ali MA and Ahmed ID and Adam AA and Mohamud AA and Dhakane SM and Mohamud OM},
  journal = {Journal of Healthcare Leadership},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://www.dovepress.com/data-informed-health-leadership-in-somalia-a-narrative-policy-review-o-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JHL},
  note = {CC BY},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Data-Informed Health Leadership in Somalia: A Narrative Policy Review of Digital Health Systems, Analytics Capacity and Subnational Decision-Making
AU  - Osman NH
AU  - Osman HM
AU  - Roble AM
AU  - Mohamed DO
AU  - Omar AA
AU  - Rage AN
AU  - Abdi AM
AU  - Iman MI
AU  - Moallim Abdullahi AA
AU  - Jimale AM
AU  - Ali MA
AU  - Ahmed ID
AU  - Adam AA
AU  - Mohamud AA
AU  - Dhakane SM
AU  - Mohamud OM
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/01
JO  - Journal of Healthcare Leadership
UR  - https://www.dovepress.com/data-informed-health-leadership-in-somalia-a-narrative-policy-review-o-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JHL
AB  - Nor Haji Osman,1,2 Hamdi Mohamud Osman,3 Abdisalan Mohamed Roble,4 Dahir Osman Mohamed,2 Abdikarim Ali Omar,4 Abdifatah Nour Rage,5 Abdiweli Mohamed Abdi,1 Mohamed Ismael Iman,6 Aweis Ahmed Moallim Abdullahi,2 Abdirahman Mohamed Jimale,2 Mohamed Ahmed Ali,2 Ismail Dahir Ahmed,7 Abdikarim Abdi Adam,8 Abdirahman Ahmed Mohamud,9 Siham Mohamed Dhakane,10 Osman Mohamed Mohamud111Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Al Hayat Medical University, Mogadishu, Somalia; 2Department of Policy and Planning, Directorate of Health and Human Services, Banadir Region, Mogadishu, Somalia; 3Department of Public Health, Noncommunicable Diseases Section, Ministry of Health and Human Services, Mogadishu, Somalia; 4Department of Digital Health and Innovations, Health Information System Section, Ministry of Health and Human Services, Mogadishu, Somalia; 5Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Salaam University, Banadir Region, Mogadishu, Somalia; 6Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Al Hayat Medical University, Mogadishu, Somalia; 7Department of Administration, Human Resources and Capacity Building, Directorate of Health and Human Services, Banadir Region, Mogadishu, Somalia; 8Department of Environmental Health and Climate, IPC Section, Federal Ministry of Health and Human Services, Mogadishu, Somalia; 9Directorate of Health, Directorate of Health and Human Services, Banadir Region, Mogadishu, Somalia; 10Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Zamzam University of Science and Technology, Banadir Region, Mogadishu, Somalia; 11Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Zamzam University of Science and Technology, Mogadishu, SomaliaCorrespondence: Nor Haji Osman, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Al Hayat Medical University, Mogadishu, Somalia, Tel +252615213035, Email [email protected]: Digital health systems can strengthen planning, surveillance, resource allocation and service improvement, but technology creates value only when healthcare leaders demand evidence, trust the data, have authority to act and are accountable for implementation. This narrative policy review examines how leadership conditions shape the use of routine and digital health information for subnational decision-making in Somalia. Targeted searches of peer-reviewed literature, Somali policy documents and institutional reports were organized using WHO SCORE, the WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health, the Performance of Routine Information System Management (PRISM) framework and its action-oriented refinement (PRISM-Act) and health leadership evidence. Somalia has established important foundations, including District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2)-based reporting, Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) integration, an electronic immunization registry and emerging electronic medical record systems and a national facility registry. Nevertheless, evidence consistently shows a gap between data submission and managerial action. Major constraints include weak leadership demand for evidence, limited district analytical and managerial capability, insufficient decision authority, variable data quality, fragmented digital governance, weak feedback loops, under-integrated private-sector and community reporting, and limited accountability for completing data-informed actions. The review proposes a data-to-action leadership framework centered on six functions: setting direction and demanding evidence; building analytical and managerial capability; delegating decision authority; coordinating programs, partners and providers; governing data quality and interoperability; and tracking decisions, implementation and learning. Somalia should treat digital health reform as a leadership and governance transformation supported by technology. Priority actions are to institutionalize review-to-action meetings, develop district leadership teams, link authority with resources, strengthen feedback and data stewardship, and use dashboards to document decisions and implementation. These measures can help convert expanding digital infrastructure into more responsive, equitable and accountable health services.Keywords: Somalia, data-informed health leadership, digital health systems, health information systems, evidence-informed decision-making, subnational health governance, analytics capacity, organizational accountability
SN  - 1179-3201
ER  -