All About Data

This week was the first week of the PMI VectorLink Regional Entomology M&E DHIS2 Training in Cameroon. The training, with participants expected from 18 countries (Angola, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, DRC, Madagascar, and Niger) over the course of both weeks, is the first in-person training event to take place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is still another week remaining, we wanted to Fist Bump those who made this training possible: Project Management Analyst, Madalyn Garcia, Entomology M&E Specialists, Marianne Henry and Lilly Siems, Technical Director Matt Kirby, Senior Data Visualization Developer Matt Boddie, M&E Director Kate Stillman, and PMI VectorLink Cameroon COP Dr. Etienne Fondjo and F&A Manager Jeannette Epee Kwa. 

Participants were delighted to be joined by our PMI and USAID colleagues on the first day: Dr. Jose Tchofa, Health Office Director, USAID Cameroon; Dr. Aissata Fofana, Resident Advisor, PMI, USAID Cameroon; and Souleymanou Souleymanou, Project Management Specialist for Malaria Data, PMI, USAID Cameroon. Facilitators covered topics such as entomology data integrity and best practices; a review of the data structure for entomology in VectorLink Collect; and data quality processes, expectations, and monitoring. Each of the first three days included practical exercises for the participants, who worked their way through technical data review; data visualizer pivot tables; and raw data export, among other activities. On the fourth and final day, using everything they had learned, a few country teams presented their final project to the full group—demonstrating dashboards they had created as if they were presenting to their local stakeholders.

Excellent work providing an enriching training experience. We look forward to hearing even more about the training following week two!