Category: BID Learning Network (BLN)
BLN members convene in Lusaka to trade learnings, share progress on digital journey
Aug 28, 2019
Members of the BID Learning Network (BLN) and Gavi Data Quality and Use (DQU) Collaborative met in Lusaka, Zambia last month from July 24 to 26 to share experiences from their respective countries, partner to overcome their challenges around immunization service delivery, and further develop and refine their data quality improvement (DQI) plans. Attendees included country representatives from The Gambia, Mozambique, Liberia, Uganda, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Malawi, and Zambia. Each country is at a slightly different place in their efforts to adopt data quality and use interventions to improve immunization, and so were paired throughout the meeting for peer review of their country plans.
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Introducing Digital Square, an innovative co-investment approach that’s changing business-as-usual
Jan 30, 2018
Last month at the Global Digital Health Forum, I introduced Digital Square to many colleagues. “Digital Square is an innovative co-investment mechanism,” I said. “Yes, but what exactly does Digital Square do?” was a common response. Digital Square is a partnership of the world’s leading digital health experts from 30+ organizations and countries working together to strengthen digital health systems in emerging economies.
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Highlights from 2017
Dec 27, 2017
This year was our final full year of the BID Initiative as our initial grant ends in April 2018. As we continue full speed ahead into the new year, we are taking a moment to look back at some of the many highlights of 2017.
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A snapshot of this year’s BLN Discussion Meeting
Dec 15, 2017
During the BID Learning Network (BLN) Discussion Meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia between September 19 and 22, more than 12 country delegates and stakeholders convened from across seventeen countries. Participants heard from various countries about their progress toward implementing electronic health systems and visited health facilities implementing Zambia’s Electronic Immunization Registry (ZEIR).
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Last BLN Discussion Meeting allows for a rich exchange of ideas and resources
Sep 28, 2017
At last week’s BID Learning Network (BLN) Discussion Meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia, Dr. Andrew Silumesi, Director of Public Health at the Zambia Ministry of Health (MOH), said: “Countries should ensure this network is owned by itself, and offer home-grown solutions to health service delivery. Engage, brainstorm, exchange ideas, exchange experiences, and take them back home to implement.”
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Participants reflect on lessons and growth, as the BID Learning Network gathers one last time in Zambia
Sep 21, 2017
Sometimes the best solutions have a deceptively simple answer, or the solution already exists. Peer learning networks are an opportunity for professionals working across a range of workplaces, sectors and countries to swap experiences, share best practices, and adapt defined solutions to their own contexts, so as not to reinvent the wheel. For the past four years, The BID Learning Network (BLN) has been a platform for this sharing. As the BLN convenes its final discussion meeting in Lusaka, Zambia this week, we caught up with one BLN member, Mbye Njie, EPI Capacity Building and Surveillance Officer for The Gambia, to discuss what the BLN has meant to him, since it launched in 2013.
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BID Initiative shares lessons and recommendations in new series of briefs
Sep 15, 2017
From its earliest days, the BID Initiative has been committed to sharing its learnings with others interested in improving immunization data quality and use. We recently launched a series of briefs summarizing our work alongside the governments of Tanzania and Zambia and our lessons and recommendations spanning seven key subject areas, ranging from the software development cycle, to change management, and peer learning.
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BID Learning Network participants trade experiences and share learnings in Santiago, Chile
Sep 1, 2017
Last week, BID Learning Network (BLN) participants traveled to South America, trading their home countries for a new backdrop. What first struck me about Chile, a narrow country bordered by the South Pacific Ocean to the West, Argentina to the East and its northern neighbors of Peru and Bolivia, were its expansive green spaces. In Parque Forestal, in central Santiago, street lamps line the pathways, and bicyclists and pedestrians weave between the public monuments. In Parque Quinta Normal, an enormous glass greenhouse sits at the middle of the park. Public parks are everywhere in Chile, a testament to the country’s commitment to health promotion and community.
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In August, BLN participants will travel to Chile to exchange learnings
Jun 26, 2017
This August, in collaboration with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the BID Learning Network (BLN) will travel to Santiago, Chile to exchange lessons on electronic immunization registries and data management systems. The trip, planned for August 22 through 25, will mark the first visit outside of BLN countries. Chile’s Registro National de Immunizaciones, or RNI, was developed in 2009, following a vaccination campaign to curb the AH1N1 flu pandemic that ravaged South America.
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The Gambia sees early successes with BLN small grant award
Jun 1, 2017
Last fall, The Gambia was awarded the BID Learning Network’s (BLN) first small grant to develop a comprehensive web-based immunization registry to capture and track every child born in the country’s Western Health Region, where the system is being piloted. Seven months into the pilot, the system known as the E-Tracker, is already helping health workers see the positive impacts of this digital registry.
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