A tool to fill gaps in countries’ digital pandemic preparedness
By: Barakissa Tien-Wahser, GIZ
The DPPA team presented projected learnings and the proposed Digital Health System Cycle framework at the African Health Tech Summit in Kigali, Rwanda in 2022. Photo: GIZ/Barakissa Tien-Wahser
Two years ago, I had the privilege of coordinating the pilot of the Digital Pandemic Preparedness Assessment (DPPA) Toolkit in five member countries of the Economic Community of West African States. The toolkit was commissioned by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to the GFA Consulting Group on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The primary goal of the DPPA was to identify and map the gaps and opportunities in the digital health ecosystems of the five partner countries—Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, and Sierra Leone—to enable the national health system to be prepared to respond to a future pandemic. Digital pandemic preparedness is becoming crucial—not only because paper-based methods showed their limitations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because epidemics require adequate national, regional, and international control measures, strategies, and optimal allocation of available resources.
Assessing the digital health ecosystems of five countries
The first version of the toolkit was published in 2021, and then the assessments were conducted in 2021-2022.
The results of the DPPA Toolkit assessments were evaluated and interpreted to formulate scenarios for integrating or increasing interoperability within existing national digital ecosystems. Based on the results and the priorities of the stakeholders in the countries, we were able to provide valuable recommendations in each country report to the respective Ministries on how to fill gaps or use opportunities with appropriate digital applications and measures to modernize public health pandemic preparedness and decision-making.
Sharing the findings of DPPA
After completing the assessments, we updated the DPPA Toolkit with version 2.0 and developed country-specific and cross-country reports summarizing our methodology, experiences, and learnings.
The learnings report serves as a draft framework summarizing the DPPA experience.
The DPPA Toolkit: The DPPA tool itself takes the form of a multi-sheet Excel workbook. It was integrated and built on data from the USAID Map and Match project led by Digital Square. It also used the EDIT tool developed by the Kati collective to help assess the state of digital health readiness, particularly infrastructure and strategy. Additional instructions and documentation are available for guidance.
The country reports: The DPPA country reports describe the evolution of the methodology used together with a summary of the experiences of each country. The reports were used to inform further activities of some GIZ and KFW programmes, Digital Health Centre of Excellence (DICE) and the World Bank Group. E.g. the Digital Innovation in Pandemic Control (DIPC) project; ProSanté in Togo and the Regional Programme Support for Pandemic Prevention (RPPP) in the ECOWAS Region.
Towards a Digital Health System Cycle (DHSC): Learnings from the DPPA: This report serves as a draft framework that summarizes the overall approach, challenges, and learnings encountered during the implementation of the DPPA. The DHSC framework was first discussed during the AfricaCDC 2022 African Health Tech Summit (AHTS) in Kigali in 2022. The major lesson learned from the DPPA is that digital pandemic preparedness is just one aspect of a digital health system, and this pandemic crisis forced attention on what should be a matter of routine.
The DHSC framework offered the basis for collaboration with further initiatives, platforms, and tools. For example, it supported the mobilization of key countries for the development of the Global Digital Health Monitor together with UNICEF, ENABEL, and the AfricaCDC. Additionally, the framework informed the pilot of three Digital Health Atlas country clinics led by the World Health Organization in partnership with Health Informatics in Africa and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Finally, it was used to support brainstorming processes and workshops for the Team Europe Initiatives on Digital Health and the Health Data Collaboratives.
Find all DPPA documents—including the updated toolkit and final reports—on the Digital Square website.
“The major lesson learned from the DPPA is that digital pandemic preparedness is just one aspect of a digital health system, and this pandemic crisis forced attention on what should be a matter of routine.”