Data and Informatics

Capacity strengthening is central to the Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI) approach. It includes strengthening the skills and competencies of national and subnational program staff to identify priority programmatic questions, increase the use of data for decision-making, and plan, implement, and monitor tailored intervention approaches to address priority questions and gaps in data. Recognizing that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to eliminating malaria, MEI and its network of partners provide tailored capacity strengthening to meet the specific needs of national malaria programs, which promote long-term sustainability and a supportive policy environment.

Countries of activity
Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Ghana, Guinea, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar

Partners
Elimination 8, PMI Evolve, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Ministries of Health in all listed countries

Funder
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, President’s Malaria Initiative

IGHS Center
Center for Global Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

Contact
Jennifer Smith, PhD jennifer.smith@ucsf.edu
Andres Aranda-Diaz, PhD andres.arandadiaz@ucsf.edu
Edward Thomsen, PhD edward.thomsen@ucsf.edu

The CREST Initiative aims to be a beacon of interdisciplinary research, education and outreach in pioneering initiatives that harness technology to fortify societies against present and future adversities, such as pandemics and human-caused disasters.

Country of activity
United States

Partners
Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs) Connection, Resilient Collective

Funders
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Science Foundation, UCSF Resource Allocation Program

IGHS Center
Center for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

Contact
Mohsen Malekinejad, MD, DrPH mmalekinejad@ucsf.edu

More information
Collective for Resilient Societies and Technology (CREST) Initiative

Developing a pipeline for a robust data science workforce is critical in this era of artificial intelligence. IGHS supports data science training for young women in Kenya.

Partners
University of Nairobi, Infectious Diseases Institute in Uganda

IGHS Centers
Center for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice

Contact
Susie Welty, MPH susie.welty@ucsf.edu

More information
IGHS partners with University of Nairobi to train underserved girls and young women in data science

Accurate diagnosis of malaria is critical for appropriate patient management and population-level surveillance. While standard diagnostics such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic testing (RDTs) are generally considered to have reliable accuracy, the changing epidemiology of malaria in low-transmission settings presents new challenges. Specifically, a higher proportion of infections in these settings is below the reliable detection limit of RDTs and microscopy. The Malaria Elimination Initiative uses research to assess the effectiveness of existing diagnostics in low transmission settings and the factors that influence the accuracy of these tests when used for passive and active case detection for surveillance.

Countries of activity
Tanzania, Peru

Partners
Ifakara Health Institute, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Stanford University, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, PATH

Funders
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

IGHS Center
Center for Global Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

Contact
Michelle Hsiang, MD michelle.hsiang@ucsf.edu
Sylvia Jebiwott, MPH sylvia.jebiwott@ucsf.edu
Sydney Fine, MPH sydney.fine@ucsf.edu

The UCSF Informatics Hub provides wide-reaching informatics solutions for numerous PEPFAR countries through the HISTAC project. Our large East African-based technical staff are developing and implementing streamlined open-source EMR functional packages (in OpenMRS) that can used for patient care, program monitoring, and donor reporting for HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases. They also provide Ministries of Health with technical advice on patient management systems (client registries) and national health data dictionaries.

Countries of activity
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Zambia, Thailand, Botswana, Ethiopia, Cambodia

Partners
University of Nairobi, Makerere School of Public Health

Funder
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

IGHS Center
Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice

Contact
Michelle Moghadassi, MPH michelle.moghadassi@ucsf.edu

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HISTAC

The Health Informatics Hub focuses on strengthening public health data pipelines. Over 50 staff members bring expertise in general software development and data collection tools, data integration, data warehouses, electronic medical records, dashboards, server management and security, system interoperability, and other emerging technologies and data use. Our approach promotes collaborative relationships with ministries of health, local partners, universities and international donors.

Countries of activity
United States, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, the Caribbean, Egypt, Jordan, Paraguay, Thailand, Cambodia

IGHS Centers
Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice
Center for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

Contact
InformaticsHub@ucsf.edu

More information
Health Informatics Hub

The Malaria Elimination Toolkit was developed based on gaps identified by national malaria programs to strengthen and accelerate malaria control and elimination efforts at subnational and national levels. The toolkit aims to meet the needs of programs and partners through user-friendly manuals, guides and frameworks geared toward problem-solving. All tools are based on current evidence and align with global normative guidance.

Country of activity
worldwide

Funder
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

IGHS Center
Center for Global Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

Contact
Katie Giessler katie.giessler@ucsf.edu

More information
Toolkit

The Open Oximetry Project improves access to safe pulse oximeters worldwide by sharing data and creating new standards and technologies for oximeter validation that better account for skin color. The project brings together a diverse community of oximetry experts, including engineers, academic researchers, clinicians, community members, manufacturers, and regulatory bodies, to partner to tackle these issues.

Country of activity
United States

Partners
The UCSF Hypoxia Lab

Funders
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, PATH with funding from Unitaid, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USAID-STAR Sustaining Technical and Analytic Resources (STAR) Project, The UCSF Hypoxia Lab

IGHS Center
Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia

Contact
Michael Lipnick, MD michael.lipnick@ucsf.edu

More information
Open Oximetry

PROTECT is a five-year project to improve public health response to COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa.

Countries of activity
Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Morocco, Egypt, Oman, Jordan

Partners
CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, CDC’s Division of Global Migration, CDC’s MENA Regional Office, CDC’s South America Regional Office, ministry of health officials

Funder
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

IGHS Center
Center for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

Contact
Susie Welty, MPH susie.welty@ucsf.edu

More information
PROTECT

The SIQHIL consortium builds a country’s capacity to develop, validate and strengthen strategic information (SI) activities to guide prevention and treatment programs toward maximum impact. It adapts effective and proven innovations aligned with PEPFAR priorities into national health systems. SIQHIL has provided SI capacity development to ministries of health, multilateral organizations and implementing partners in 25 countries.

Countries of activity
current: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Sierra Leone, Tanzania; previous: Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Myanmar, Vietnam

Partners
UC Global Programs, CDC Atlanta, CDC Country Offices, ministries of health in each country

Funder
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

IGHS Center
Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice

Contact
Kelly Young kelly.young@ucsf.edu

Recency testing is a surveillance tool that can identify whether people who are newly diagnosed with HIV acquired an infection within the last 12 months or more than 12 months ago. Recency surveillance can help identify areas and populations where HIV transmission is actively occurring, which informs HIV prevention strategies and strengthens HIV program interventions. Since 2018, TRACE has supported ministries of health in several sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia countries to pilot and scale up recency testing.

Countries of activity
current: Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Vietnam; previous: Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Cambodia, Thailand

Partners
UC Global Programs, CDC Atlanta, ICAP at Columbia University, CDC Country Offices, ministries of health in each country

Funder
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

IGHS Center
Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice

Contact
Susie Welty, MPH susie.welty@ucsf.edu