Posts focused on Health

Through partnerships in Côte d’Ivoire, DG collaborated to build a platform which integrates and visualizes data from multiple sources, using maps and dashboards, for policymakers and health workers. A handoff ceremony caps a two-year effort to improve the data and tools accessible to the country’s health workers.

Ali Diakité is an alum of the first DCDJ Fellowship cohort. After two months of intensive data science training, he was placed with the National AIDS Control Program (PNLS), the government agency that coordinates the national response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. During the Fellowship, Ali built a solution that noticeably improved PNLS' efficiency and data quality. As the primary HIV/AIDS control program in Côte d’Ivoire, PNLS uses the tool to make direct improvements to its data quality, timeliness, and epidemic response.

Several months ago, the Tobacco Control Data Initiative (TCDI) team completed an assessment in South Africa to understand the key priorities and data needs of those who work in tobacco control. During the assessment, the team talked to a variety of stakeholders within government agencies, civil society organizations, and academia who work on promoting, advocating, or evaluating tobacco control policies.

As experts scramble to better understand why Covid-19 can impact individual patients so differently, a growing body of evidence suggests that one factor contributing to the severity of the disease is whether the patient is a smoker. Could enhanced tobacco control policies be another tool for governments fighting the virus?

As we approach Beijing+25, awareness about the literal value of gender equality continues to rise—but actual progress has stalled. The 2020 World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report reveals women’s under-representation is most acute in data, digital, and technology fields that will drive economic growth over the next decade. According to the report, just 12 percent of cloud computing, 15 percent of engineering, and 26 percent of data and artificial intelligence professionals are women.

DG is pleased to announce a new program supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to work with African policymakers, governments, and civil society organizations to use data to promote tobacco control across the continent.

Last month (March 13-19, 2019), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Des Chiffres et des Jeunes (DCDJ), and SEJEN teams gathered at the Ecole Nationale de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) campus for a comprehensive Semi-Annual Review (SAR) of activities carried out since the DCDJ project launched.

The Open Geospatial Data Center for Health (OpenDCH) program aims to address gaps in both data supply and demand in Côte d'Ivoire, focusing on stakeholder engagement, alignment of data sources, and forging of data literacy. OpenDCH is a partnership between AidData, Development Gateway, the Ministry of Health’s Direction de l'Informatique et de l'Information Sanitaire (DIIS), and USAID/Côte d’Ivoire.

DG recently participated in Elimika Wikiendi, an open online space for Kiswahili speakers to discuss issues including health, research, development, and technology in Tanzania and East Africa. The platform educates, raises awareness, and prompts online dialogue using the hashtag #ElimikaWikiendi.

Tremendous progress has been made over the past two decades in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. Citizens are more aware of the virus, medications have been improved, and access to support has increased. In Côte d’Ivoire, a remaining challenge in combating HIV/AIDS is to more effectively target hotspots and to ensure that resources are finding their way to local communities with the greatest needs for prevention and treatment.