Tag: Data Use Partnership
New strategy and systems cement Tanzania’s digital health leadership
Feb 18, 2020
The Government of Tanzania is calling for an end to “pilotitis”—an emphasis on narrowly focused health interventions, small populations, and vertical health programs. Last November, the country made great strides toward this goal and digital transformation with the launch of a new Digital Health Strategy (2019—2024) and a series of systems that will greatly improve coordination between partners in the health sector.
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Preparing the health workforce to make the most of data
Aug 5, 2019
For nearly thirty years as a health worker in Tanzania, Salome has used pen and paper to record patient data. A digital transformation promises to streamline her work and improve patient care.
Digital health solutions increase data quality and accessibility, but to be effective and improve patient outcomes, health workers must know how to make the most of the information. For many like Salome, Tanzania’s digital transformation will require retraining and developing new digital literacy skills.
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Goodbye paper: How Tanzania is leapfrogging the digital divide
Mar 4, 2019
Tanzania is an early adopter of digital tools and technology. Here’s how that’s strengthened its national health system and established Tanzania as a leader in the global digital health revolution.
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Planning for compasses, not maps: BID celebrates a culture of learning, applies principles of adaptive management
Mar 16, 2018
Beatrice Owawa’s fingers dance across the screen of her tablet. She nimbly jumps from one window to the next, as she checks vaccine records and stock levels in the Tanzania Immunization Registry (TImR) at Usa River Health Center in Arusha, where she works as a medical attendant. When Beatrice pulls up a list of young patients who have recently missed their vaccines, she takes down their names and contact information and begins to call their caregivers. It may seem unremarkable, but the task of identifying patients who have fallen through the cracks used to be nearly impossible. Before TImR, Beatrice relied on paper registries to track “defaulters,” or patients who had missed a life-saving vaccine.
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What to watch in 2018 in digital health: Conversations from the Global Digital Health Forum
Jan 11, 2018
Last month, more than 550 individuals in the digital health field – representing ministries of health, implementing organizations, and other partners – met for the 4th annual Global Digital Health Forum (GDHF) in Washington, DC. The conference, which experienced a 30 percent increase in participation from 2016, has established itself as a landmark annual event in the space. Over the course of three days, speakers and participants engaged in over 80 sessions, roundtables, and workshops to share lessons learned and best practices. Read about some of the major themes that emerged from the conversations.
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From noise to knowledge: BID Initiative releases white paper about creating a culture of data use
Oct 26, 2017
What is a data use culture? Why is it important? And how can it be strengthened? These are some of the questions addressed in PATH’s newly released white paper on Defining and Building a Data Use Culture. Over the past decade, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to improve health outcomes has multiplied in the global health sector. One of the primary benefits of ICTs is the improved ability to collect, analyze, and use data. But to do this well and sustainability requires fostering a data use culture.
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Bill Gates visits BID Initiative, helps launch next phase of Tanzania’s Data Use Partnership
Aug 16, 2017
Last week, the BID Initiative was honored to host Bill Gates for a visit celebrating Tanzania’s progress and commitment to embracing a culture of data use within its health system. After completing the Arusha region, BID recently announced its plans to expand data use and data quality interventions to two new regions in the country – Tanga and Kilimanjaro.
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Highlighting solutions from digital health – propelling the field out of the era of “wild west” data collection, into a data use culture
Jul 13, 2017
The decade between 2000-2010 can be described as the era of the digital health pilot program. This “wild west” offered a glimpse into the untapped potential of collecting data by integrating digital tools into current health systems, where information flow was previously stagnant or non-existent. In an effort to create lasting, high-impact improvements to healthcare delivery, sharing lessons and best practices learned from implementing these pilot programs can ensure that digital health moves beyond pilots and becomes a health system mainstay.
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Humanizing data: Permanent Secretary of Tanzania discusses road map to better health
Apr 13, 2017
As the African proverb reads: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. When the Government of Tanzania first introduced its eHealth Strategy in 2013, it knew the success of the ambitious mandate depended on forging strong partnerships. The effort to adopt and apply information communication technology (ICT) throughout the health sector could transform the delivery of quality healthcare services, but not without careful investments and coordination across sectors and partners.
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Tanzania has set its digital health road map and is revving its engine, ready to drive forward.
Mar 1, 2017
At the core of Tanzania’s strategy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is a vision of all health workers’ ability to access and meaningfully use the information they need to make the best decisions to improve health.
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