The Gaza health information system: Rebuilding for a resilient future

The ongoing Israel-Gaza war has led to the rampant destruction and disruption of much of Gaza’s health system, including the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and the loss of access to essential medical services [1,2]. These losses include the critical infrastructure and capacity for Gaza’s once-robust Health Information System (HIS). The disruption to the HIS has greatly challenged decision-making, health service delivery, humanitarian response, and data driven advocacy.

Before October 2023, Gaza boasted a particularly robust health information system considering the circumstances, serving as a potential model for similar contexts. Despite some fragmentation, the former HIS covered a wide range of public health functions, including medical records, hospital functionality, primary health services, human resources, supply chains and financial systems, as well as numerous population health indicators and active disease surveillance.