Dear subscriber,
Africa has launched two continental health-data platforms in seven months. Are they building a more connected health system or something else?
Treezer Michelle Atieno - Editor
The World Health Organisation has launched a regional health data hub just seven months after the Africa CDC established its own data repository. The platforms reflect Africa’s growing investment in health-data infrastructure to improve intelligence–but also raise questions about whether the new platforms could create unnecessary complexity.
Africa has long lacked consolidated health data to help businesses anticipate demand and plan production. Integrated data gives pharma manufacturers, hospitals, suppliers and insurers clearer signals on disease trends and service gaps.
But multiple platforms could also introduce new problems: duplicate reporting, inconsistent standards, incompatible systems, conflicting data and higher maintenance costs. For countries and businesses already navigating fragmented health information, poorly coordinated data infrastructure could make access to reliable intelligence harder.
Our take: Africa should not respond to fragmented health data by building more platforms that operate separately…Read more (2 min)
The new World Health Organisation regional health data hub for Africa covers all 47 member states and brings together health information from fragmented national and regional systems. Donfelix Ochieng’, a health information systems specialist, argues that the hub is an important step but cannot compensate for weak national data systems.
“A continental hub built on top of fragmented and incomplete national systems will aggregate the fragmentation rather than resolve it,” says Mr Ochieng’.
He argues that the hub’s success will depend on whether countries improve data quality and analytical capacity, and whether the platform ultimately translates better information into better health decisions at national and facility levels.
Read the full opinion…Read more (2 min)
An analysis of Pfizer’s LinkedIn workforce data shows a strong commercial presence in Africa, with sales accounting for 22% of its 3,703 employees. Yet the data shows no research and development hiring, raising questions about how much drug development is taking place on the continent for African populations and disease needs.
Pharmacists are the largest job title at 273 employees, followed by medical sales representatives at 243 and sales managers at 67. This points to a workforce focused heavily on the commercial side of medical products and not early-stage drug development.
The workforce is also heavily concentrated in North Africa, accounting for 64% of Pfizer’s total African workforce. Egypt has 1,368 employees, or 37%, followed by Algeria at 510 (14%) and Morocco at 497 (13%).
Our take: Pfizer’s 31% senior workforce growth in the past year is concentrated in North Africa which has large pharmaceutical markets, established industry, ready talent pools and close links to European healthcare markets…Read more (2 min)
____________________
Africa adopts plans to train and retain 3 million health workers by 2035
Events
🗓️ Register for the World Congress on Public Health in South Africa (Sept 6)
🗓️ Participate in World Health Expo in Kenya (Sept 16)
🗓️ Join the International Conference on Public Health in Ethiopia (Nov 23)
Jobs
🧑⚕️Be the National Antimicrobial Resistance Coordinator at FAO (Zimbabwe)
🧑⚕️Apply to be the Country Director at International Medical Corps (Ethiopia)
🧑⚕️Join PATH as a Communications and Advocacy Officer for Vaccines (Nigeria)
Various
💉Uganda ends Ebola outbreak
💉Africa adopts framework to safeguard polio eradication gains
💉Ethiopia expands digital health to more than 33 million people
Seen on LinkedIn
Erick Musyoki, the Project Director at Rotary Club, says, “African Health Ministers have made an important commitment to train and retain 3 million additional health workers by 2035. The ambition is necessary but there is a paradox we cannot ignore. Africa already has an estimated 943,000 trained health professionals who are potentially unemployed, while hospitals and health facilities continue to struggle with severe staff shortages. So perhaps, the question is no longer simply how many more health workers Africa can train. It is whether we can employ, deploy and retain the people we already produce.”