The D4H activity recently procured electronic server machine worth 135,630,646.74/_. The server machine will be used to improve the government’s response, surveillance, contact tracing, data gathering and reporting for public health threats. The donation is part of the US government’s through CDC to support the Ministry of Health in Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland in improving data management and reporting in the context of COVID-19.
Speaking at the hand over event in Zanzibar recently , Nassoro Mazrui, Minister for Health said: “We are receiving this server at the right time, digital health systems play an important role in health sector performance improvement and quality health care services provision as well as a vital tool for collecting relevant and real-time health data useful for health decisions. The ministry of health is impressed with the efforts and cooperation of the CDC and MDH towards achievement of our common goals provision of quality health care services to Zanzibar community”.
During the event, Dr Mahesh Swaminathan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Country Director stated: “It’s pleasure working with the government of Zanzibar, it’s our strong partner to improve healthcare services, this investment will help to keep people safe”
The Management and Development for Health, Chief Executive Officer Dr David Sando appreciated the partnership and commitment of the CDC and Ministry of Health, Zanzibar in keeping people safe from the diseases. “Management and Development for health remains committed working with our donor CDC and the government and people of Zanzibar in designing and strengthening health information systems for point of entry and electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Systems” said Dr Sando.
Data for Health (D4H) project is 5 year a cooperative agreement between CDC and MDH with the aim of supporting the Health Information System Development, Project Management and Coordinated Deployment for National HIV and Health Sector Systems in the Republic of Tanzania under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The project started in September 30, 2020 and it is currently in the second year of implementation.
Through D4H project, MDH was awarded a supplemental funding from CDC (Global Health Security (GHSA)) through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to facilitate surveillance systems development. The funding aims at supporting improvement of surveillance information systems in Tanzania as a response to COVID-19 outbreak.
The funding aims at supporting development of Port of Entry (POE) module in eIDSR to facilitate capture and visualization of events, support upgrading of eIDSR to accommodate new IDSR diseases and events as per the new IDSR 3rd edition, support development of Event-Based Surveillance (EBS) system to strengthen EBS data capture and to report for events happening in the communities, improve disease surveillance at sentinel sites, support integration of Lab systems and eIDSR to facilitate smooth data transfer between the systems. Under this subproject MDH, is currently working with HISP Tanzania to facilitate development of Afya Msafiri traveler’s portal in Zanzibar.
