How are African countries using data to combat Covid-19?

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has taken an enormous toll. A lack of timely, reliable data makes it especially difficult for decision-makers to track disease spread and measure knock-on effects of the pandemic. This, in turn, undermines their ability to develop the interventions needed to improve the livelihoods of people there.

Across Africa, many countries face an especially tough challenge due to rising cases, a surge in variants, and a lack of access to vaccines. With less than one percent of the continent’s total population vaccinated, there is growing fear that the countries across the continent face a “third wave” of the pandemic. Data innovation, leveraging both traditional and non-traditional sources responsibly, will be essential to prevent worse from happening.

Participants will discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the current use of data systems in their regions; as well as the ways that their work (and data reuse work more broadly) can address the worst aspects of the pandemic. They will also touch briefly on the projects that they are working on.