Dear all,
In honor of World AIDS Day, we are excited to spread the word about the upcoming release of the WHO Global HIV Programme’s Digital Adaptation Kit (DAK) 2nd version and a new suite of DHIS2 tools and resources to support countries to uptake the new WHO SI guidelines in their own systems and use routine data for impact.
Join the WHO and representatives from Global Fund, HISP Centre and the eHealth Lab Ethiopia for a virtual launch event on Thursday December 7th at 14:00 Geneva time for an overview of the Digital Adaptation Kit as part of the SMART Guidelines initiative, including updated indicators and guidelines for HIV programme monitoring, and a discussion on how partners and countries can leverage the DAK to improve data systems in your country.
Registration for the WHO DAK Launch webinar is open here: Webinar Registration - Zoom
DHIS2 has long played a significant role in the fight against HIV around the world. Ministries of Health in 38 countries have integrated HIV data into the HMIS for programme monitoring and data-driven action, while 14 MOH have begun implementing DHIS2 Tracker for person-centered monitoring, case surveillance and/or prevention activities. Below are a few impact stories from our Community of Practice on how DHIS2 can be leveraged to help people living with HIV know their HIV status, receive life-saving treatments, and achieve viral suppression:
- In Liberia, the PEPFAR-funded EPiC project digitized HIV client records in 24 high-volume facilities, which helped to identify 2,000 misclassified people living with HIV and link them to treatment
- The PEPFAR-funded #EAWA project supported Togo’s National AIDS Control Program to use DHIS2 to improve viral load testing for eligible PLHIV and link lab results with case records; while in Burkina Faso, the use of DHIS2 working lists and line-lists enabled a successful ‘back to care’ campaign, identifying more than 10,000 people lost-to-follow up during COVID-19, contact patients for appointment reminders, and ultimately bringing more than 6,800 PLHIV back onto ARTs.
- In Zimbabwe, HISP, UNDP and Global Fund have partnered with the National AIDS Council to use DHIS2 to reach adolescents, girls and young women at high-risk with a range of HIV prevention and health services to curb the epidemic among this vulnerable group.
- Countries such as Uganda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Cape Verde, and Eritrea have used the WHO-recommended DHIS2 Toolkit for HIV Case Surveillance to update national systems according to WHO standards for routine data collection and analysis. To further accelerate interoperability between DHIS2 as a national-scale HIV case surveillance system and other individual-level data systems like EMRs used in some HIV treatment sites, the HISP team has released a demo FHIR Implementation Guide based on the WHO HIV case surveillance tracker. Note: this FHIR IG is intended for exploration and learning; it does not represent the updated WHO DAK 2.0.
We are grateful for our Collaborating Center partnership with the WHO and support from Global Fund to enable us to learn alongside the development of the HIV DAK, and look forward to ongoing engagement with the SMART Guidelines working groups more generally.
We hope you will join us on December 7th and keep an eye out for the upcoming release of the DHIS2 Toolkit for HIV 2.0!
Warm regards,
The DHIS2 Health Team