Health experts have emphasised the vital role of proper data coordination in emergency health response and its potential to mitigate the impact of pandemics.
They spoke at the COVID-19 Impact Mitigation Project Close Out Ceremony on Tuesday in Abuja.
The event is themed, “Navigating Health Data in a Pandemic: Overcoming Challenges, Embracing Innovation and Shaping the Future.”
The project, implemented by Data for Implementation (Data.FI) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aimed to provide time-limited support to the COVID-19 response in Nigeria.
It established Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) in eight states and enabled the setting up of electronic medical record systems.
The Senior Regional Manager at Data.FI, Dr Sulaiman Dauda, highlighted the importance of data in responding to emerging health threats.
He noted that poor data collection hindered proper response to issues, but digitalisation improved data quality.
“So that is one of the reasons why we have poor quality of data, but moving towards electronic system, digitalisation of the data, we find that it improves substantially the quality of the data.
“So we have been working with USAID and other partners on what we call the health informatics community of practice to develop Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems.
“We have developed the Dynamics Plus EMR system, which is currently in use in about 17 different states, USAID is supporting Nigeria.”
The Chief Consultant Epidemiologist at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Ganiyu Jamiu, emphasized the need for robust public health EOCs to respond to medical emergencies.
“We realised that some states do not even have a building to call EOC centers. When there is an outbreak that is when people gather themselves in one office and call it an EOC.”
Jamiu said with this, they were able to see the need to have a structure and equipped to look more functional to be able to respond to emergencies, whether public health or a medical emergency.
He commended the project for harmonising resources and aiding effective response to emergencies.
The Head of Epidemiology Division at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Nwachukwu William, called for continued support to build on the achievements of the project.
The Executive Secretary of Akwa Ibom State Primary Health Care Development Authority, Dr Angela Attah, appreciated the project’s support in capacity building and data management.
The experts urged stakeholders to leverage the established systems and processes to maintain momentum and ensure sustained progress in emergency health response.
Data.FI is a multi-year global initiative, funded by USAID and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
NAN
