INDEPTH, Chatham House organise data sharing meeting in Accra

Chatham House, UK, in collaboration with the INDEPTH Secretariat brought together leading health experts from Africa to Accra from 16-17 June 2016 to discuss a data sharing initiative: "Strengthening Data Sharing for Public Health."

More than 20 participants shared experiences and suggested practical ways to deal with barriers to data sharing.

The Chatham House, through its Centre on Global Health Security has involved INDEPTH in the initiative that engages experts from around the world to develop guidance on how to create the right environment and achieve good practice for sharing public health surveillance data across national borders.

Speaking during the roundtable meeting, Prof. David Harper from Chatham House, UK, said recent health crises have demonstrated a need for improved public surveillance on data sharing procedures.

He said while barriers to data sharing were well understood, solutions still need to be identified and adopted.

The roundtable meeting was aimed at exploring past and present challenges and successes in disease surveillance data sharing in the Africa region. The other objectives were to refine and adjust the guidance to take into account any regional requirements and to evaluate the utility of the guidance content and its accompanying website.

The INDEPTH Policy Engagement and Communications Manager, David Mbulumi, welcomed the participants on behalf of the INDEPTH Executive Director. He later briefed them on INDEPTH's global coverage and areas of work.

The Manager for General Projects and Information Systems at INDEPTH, Titus Tei, also shared the Network's experience in data sharing.

Prof Harper said he was very impressed with INDEPTH's experience and range of activities, which he described as very good for the Chatham House-INDEPTH partnership.

The issue of trust in data sharing was raised several times by participants, who also narrated some case studies from their home countries.