The second episode of Malaria Routine Data in Action webinar series took place on 8th December 2021 and it was  dedicated to the topic of;

"Piloting WHO Surveillance Assessment Toolkit"

The webinar moderated by Dr Laura Anderson, Technical Officer, SIR, GPM from WHO Geneva, focused on the first experiences of piloting the recently developed WHO Surveillance Assessment Toolkit.

Presenters included:

• Dr Gauthier Tougri from Burkina Faso,
• Dr Jean Fosso from Cameroon,
• Dr Alain Bokota from DRC 
• Dr Mohammed Wahjib from Ghana

They have shared their countries findings and recommendations after piloting the WHO Surveillance Assessments Toolkit.

The countries conducted this pilot to assess their malaria surveillance systems and to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Whilst each country is developing roadmaps to tackle their specific findings, there were some common lessons across piloting countries and implementing partners that are summarized in this country perspective piece:

1. Having a well-established DHIS2 in the countries at national level does not necessarily correlate with high levels of data use. Having an established dataset at central level is one of the most important components of a strong surveillance system but the usage of the collected data is equally important. There is a discrepancy of data usage between different levels. The data quality meetings and data usage at facility and district levels need to be encouraged by the countries. Meanwhile, the countries need to increase the usage of current dashboards at national level.
2. Resource mobilization, capacity building and training are key needs across all countries. There are gaps in building technical capabilities in the effective use of DHIS2. In addition, absence of training plans was also highlighted with lack of guidance available to staff especially in health facilities. Whilst the countries tackle these points by recruiting new staff and build their capacity as much as they can; they also need to reinforce the allocation equipment such as computers, photocopier, internet modem, fleet at facility levels to ensure functional operationalization of the surveillance activities.
3. The countries’ roadmaps need to engage partners to turn priorities into actions. Understanding the country specific needs is key so that partners are able to support countries with country specific solutions. Sometimes the completion of large volumes of the documents and surveys create extra workload on government staff where there is already a shortage of capacity. In essence, different countries require different solutions tailored to their contextual needs. It was recommended that to achieve an effective collaboration between governments, implementing partners and donors,  countries should present their roadmap and coordinate regular dialogues so that identified approaches are addressing country needs.
4. Insufficient financial resources allocated to malaria surveillance activities. As systems are strengthened, the roadmap to achieve a fit for purpose surveillance system requires identification of financial gaps as well as re-allocation of resources to support surveillance specific activities.  Mapping out these needs are critical and countries as well as increasing motivation and incentives to government stall to ensure these new activities are effectively implemented at lower levels through supportive supervision and monitoring systems.