Date: 2017-10-10 21:20:54 ID: 1730
From 10 to 13 October 2017 is organised in Niamey, Niger, the 8th Annual joint meeting of national coordinators and partners of Health Information Systems (HIS) and Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) in the ECOWAS region.
Jointly organised by the West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO), USAID and the West Africa Economic and Monetary (WAEMU), the principal objective of the meeting is to promote the production, sharing and utilisation of quality health information to guide the activities at all levels of the health system in the ECOWAS region. After one and a half days of working sessions among participants, opening ceremony of the meeting took place on10 October 2017, under the chairmanship of the Minister of public health of Niger, in the presence of the Deputy Director General of WAHO, the representative of the WAEMU Commission and the United States ambassador to Niger.
All speaker unanimously commended the regular holding of the meeting and insisted on the usefulness of quality and accessible information for decision-making at country-level. This need is justified by the recurrence of episodes of epidemics with the burden of death and economic losses, which have affected the West Africa region under which have revealed the vulnerability of the health systems and particularly the weaknesses of the health information and surveillance systems in detecting and rapidly containing health emergencies.
That is why the representative of the WAEMU Commission, while reaffirming his institutions readiness and support with regard to the issue, expressed the wish that the Niamey meeting would foster the strengthening of surveillance and response to health risks, particularly across borders and improve the coordination of activities of all stakeholders in health information, surveillance and response to epidemics.
For the United States ambassador to Niger, WAHO and ECOWAS countries, thanks to the epidemic of the Ebola virus disease, have identified capacity building for the production of quality health information as a fundamental pillar in health infrastructure. This explains the investment the American government has made through USAID to support and sustain the health information. According to the Ambassador, Eunice Reddick, the participation of the USA in this meeting is the testimony that it wants to make West Africa region on top of the issue of an operational integrated health information system; one that is well managed for the production of quality data.
This vision is shared by the Deputy Director General of WAHO, who, after recognising the individual and collective commitments of all stakeholders with regard to the holding of this event, mentioned one reality about the countries: “our region remains vulnerable with regard to epidemics and other health emergencies: the evidence is in the incidence of the Zika virus disease in countries of the West Africa region, as well as the recent case of the RIFT valley fever epidemic in Niger and again, this year, the dengue fever which continues to be a scourge for some countries, including Burkina Faso. These quasi-permanent threats remind us of the urgency to establish integrated and more efficient health information systems such as the ones we have committed ourselves to establish, following the Accra meeting in 2015”. Furthermore, Dr Laurent ASSOGBA insisted on the need to deepen reflection on strategies to be developed and effective measures to be implemented so as to guarantee the quality of data collected by the NHIS. This will also improve the production and sharing of information, the utilisation of evidence for decision-making at all levels of the health information in the ECOWAS region. On his part, the Minister of public health of Niger, recognising the relevance of the theme of the 8th joint meeting, reminded participants about the need to take into account epidemiological surveillance and response activities in the West Africa region. It is therefore appropriate, according to the Minister, Idi Illiassou Maïnassara, to preserve the achievements even if people are not fully proficient in the systematic utilisation of data for decision-making.
The Niamey meeting to discuss the promotion, production, sharing and utilisation of quality health information through the “One health” approach, should enable the adoption of the revised list of epidemic-prone diseases, the adoption of strategies to optimise the utilisation of the regional platform, the sharing of best practices and tools for improving the quality of data. Similarly, a consensus should be reached with regard to the priorities for producing and sharing information in 2018.
Besides WAHO staff, led by the Director General of the institution, participants at the Niamey meeting comprised national Coordinators of NHIS, IDSR and animal health of each country. Also at the meeting were many partners whose various forms of support were recognised and commended by the speakers.
Regularly organised since 2010, the joint meeting over the years has achieved maturity and importance as far as countries are concerned, and has become popular among partners, who provide regular technical and financial support. The major focus of all the successive sessions since 2010 has been the organisation and management of the NHIS (determination of policies, strategic planning, integration of data management, staff training in the use of DHIS2 as an integrated data management tool, etc.).
