DR Congo: AFENET trains surveillance officers on data analysis and visualization

The threat of emerging diseases of pandemic potential is increasing alongside endemic diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and hepatitis virus infections, especially with increased urbanization and human mobility. These changes call for a revised approach to training health workers in surveillance.

As part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen the health system in the Democratic Republic of Congo, AFENET facilitated the training of the national training of trainers on strengthening the surveillance of vaccine preventable diseases and data management on 31st January – 6th February 2023, at Bibwa, Kinshasa with funding support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The training is aimed at equipping surveillance officers with skills on data analysis and visualization techniques using Power-BI software and QGIS mapping.

Thirty five public health officers in charge of surveillance system especially those involved in data management from various health departments from the Directorate of Epidemiological Surveillance (DSE), Programme Elargi de Vaccination (PEV), the Directorate of Laboratory (DLS), Institut National de Recherche Biomédical (INRB), and the Directorate of National Health Information System (DNHIS). Faciliators for the training were from WHO, AFENET, and US CDC.

Some of the key topics covered included introduction to the Power -BI software, data visualization techniques, data transformation as well as mapping with QGIS software for Dashboard visualization. The next step of the training is the training of the provincial level officers and the cascade training at the lower operational level of the health system.