DHIS 2 (District Health Information Software) is an open source, flexible, platform-independent and free web-based software that can be used to collect, analyze, validate and present aggregated (statistical) data. It’s a modular information system based on free and open source Java frameworks, such as Spring, Hibernate and WebWork.

The software can be used to capture data on any type of device, including laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones and other devices. It provides a wide range of solutions based on Java, SMS and HTML5, which work offline to improve reach in locations with poor connectivity.

It features superb visualization features, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), pivot tables and charts. Offers an application for capturing and reporting events, tracks entities, access control and data approval tools, top menu system, support for OpenID authentication, user account invites and extended sharing.

DHIS 2 is dubbed by its developers as the world’s most popular free health information system, as it is being used by numerous organisations and health institutions across five continents in over 45 countries.

It is interoperable, featuring its own DXF 2 file format and SDMX-HD standard, specially designed for data exchange and metadata. A REST-based Web API will give developers instant access to most parts of the project.

Another interesting feature is the ability to be support hundreds of millions of data records and thousands of concurrent users using only a single web server. Please keep in mind that the software is heavily used as the national health information system in a wide range of countries.

The program is written entirely in the Java programming language, designed to run on the cloud, which means that it is platform-independent. All you need to use DHIS 2 is a modern web browser that supports JavaScript.