Monrovia – The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (AFRICAN CDC) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) from the continent will converge in Monrovia from June 4-5, 2018, to deliberate on data warehousing, sharing and timely use for public health impact.
According to a release issued in Monrovia by the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), the two-day forum is intended to enhance data acquisition, warehousing and use by participating National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) in Africa and five (5) regional coordinating centers in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique and Namibia. The meeting is intended amongst other things to promote better data and information sharing across Africa.
During the meeting, the release pointed out, participants will discuss opportunities to effectively acquire, warehouse and use data within NPHIs to influence public health practice within countries, as well as discuss ways and means to better coordinate data and information sharing to promote public health goals.
The Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia Tolbert Nyenswah said “the hosting of the meeting in Liberia is a boost to NPHIL and a critical milestone to public health data acquisition, warehousing, sharing and data coordination”. Noting evidence-based data, information sharing contributed to halting of the Ebola crisis in Liberia and West Africa.
The forum will identify capacity requirements to enhance in-country components of the data value chain, both near and long term opportunities for collaboration, including the types of data that can and should be shared.
The meeting will be attended by Dr. John Nkengasong, Director Africa CDC, Dr. Whilemina Jallah, Minister of Health- Liberia, Country Representative of the World Health Organization and the Country Director of the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention.