Dr. Uzodinma Adirieje
Global Health and Development Projects Consultant | Conferences Organizer | Trainer| Facilitator | Researcher | M&E Expert | Civil Society Leader | Policy Advocate | Climate-Health Specialist
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Dear Neil,
In sub-Saharan Africa, open health data is not simply a transparency agenda; it is a practical instrument for planning, supervision, and accountability. Where facility lists, service availability, and disease surveillance data are open and machine-readable, ministries can spot gaps in coverage, NGOs can align support, and researchers can test whether policy is reaching underserved populations. WHO guidance on master facility lists and open sharing of health facility data supports this direction, while evidence from Africa shows that openly accessible facility data can improve mapping, response planning, and resource allocation.
OPEN DATA AS A HEALTH SYSTEMS TOOL
A useful benchmark comes from the continent-wide facility data landscape: one study identified over 185,000 health facility locations across Africa from three open sources, but only seven of 52 countries had official master facility lists that could be readily downloaded and analysed. That is a transparency gap with operational consequences. If a State or district cannot reliably tell how many functioning facilities it has, or what services they can effectively provide, then referral planning, outreach interventions, and emergency preparedness all become guesswork.
WHAT OPENNESS CAN DELIVER
Open data systems strengthen health systems when they connect data across levels of care and across institutions. During outbreaks, they support faster situational awareness; in routine service delivery, they improve planning for medicines, staffing, and infrastructure. Africa CDC’s public health information systems agenda and its newer centralized repository reflect a wider regional shift toward interoperable, trusted, and federated data architectures. The policy value is visible in concrete use cases. In Kenya, open facility databases and travel-time analysis were combined to support COVID-19 response planning, while open facility lists have also been used to identify locations for testing, vaccination, and emergency referral routing. In low-resource settings, this matters because the same dataset can serve multiple functions: district microplanning, equity audits, supply chain routing, and performance review.
PERSISTENT CONSTRAINTS
The main obstacles are not technical alone. Data are often scattered across ministries, donors, and private systems; formats differ; geocodes are incomplete; and service-capacity fields are frequently missing. Governance also remains uneven. Cross-border exchange of health data is shaped by different legal regimes on privacy and transfer, and that legal diversity complicates regional collaboration. Even where laws permit sharing, institutions may lack the staffing, servers, and data stewardship capacity to maintain systems over time. There is also a familiar African problem of “available but unusable” data. A PDF can be published and still fail as open data because it cannot be systematically reused. That distinction matters for sustainability, because systems that cannot be integrated into routine workflows tend to disappear once donor projects end.
POLICY INNOVATIONS NEEDED
Policy should move beyond publication toward stewardship. Priority actions include adopting national master facility list standards, mandating machine-readable formats, funding routine data quality audits, and requiring interoperability rules for public and publicly financed systems. Governments also need standard data-sharing agreements that clarify purpose, retention, access, and publication rights, while respecting privacy and data sovereignty. A final innovation is to treat open data as infrastructure. That means recurrent budget lines, not ad hoc project grants. For African and low-resource health systems, transparency becomes durable only when it is built into the administrative spine of the system rather than layered on top of it.
CONCLUSION
Open data can strengthen health systems in sub-Saharan Africa only when it is treated as a core public good, not a short-term digital project. Its real value lies in improving planning, equity, accountability, and response capacity across routine and emergency settings. Yet transparency without interoperability, governance, and sustained financing will remain fragmented and fragile. The policy task is therefore clear: build trusted data standards, protect privacy, support national stewardship, and embed open systems within durable health sector reform. Done well, open data becomes more than information sharing; it becomes a practical lever for better decisions, stronger institutions, and long-term development impact.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
South A, Dicko A, Herringer M, et al. A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement. Wellcome Open Research. 2021.
Brand D, Singh JA, Nienaber McKay AG, et al. Data sharing governance in sub-Saharan Africa during public health emergencies: Gaps and guidance. South African Journal of Science. 2022.
Bataliack, S., Ebongue, M., Karamagi, H., & Janauschek, L. (2024). Health data digitalization in Africa: unlocking the potential. World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa.
African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Systems & dashboards. Africa CDC. Retrieved July 3, 2026, from https://tools.africacdc.org
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, January 27). Africa CDC establishes Central Data Repository to strengthen public health surveillance. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/africa-cdc-establishes-central-data-r...
“Technological tools, including computers, search engines, statistical software, AI, and other digital applications routinely employed in contemporary scholarship, assisted in the preparation of this work. However, the conceptualization, analysis, interpretation, verification of information, conclusions, and responsibility for the content remain solely those of the author.” - Dr. Uzodinma Adirieje
HIFA profile: Dr. Uzodinma Adirieje is a leading voice in health education, community health, and advocacy, with decades of experience advancing people-centered development across Africa and beyond. His approach to health education emphasizes participatory learning, knowledge transfer, and behavior change communication, ensuring that individuals and communities gain the skills and awareness to make informed decisions about their health. He develops and delivers innovative health promotion strategies tailored to local realities, particularly in resource-limited settings. In community health, Dr. Adirieje has championed integrated primary health care, preventive medicine, and grassroots health initiatives. Through Afrihealth Optonet Association (AHOA), which he leads, he connects civil society, community groups, and health institutions to strengthen healthcare delivery, tackle health inequities, and improve access to essential services for vulnerable populations. His work addresses infectious diseases, maternal and child health, nutrition, climate and health, environmental health, and emerging public health challenges. As a passionate advocate, Dr. Adirieje works with governments, NGOs, and international organizations to influence health policy, mobilize resources, and promote sustainable development goals (SDGs). He amplifies community voices, ensuring that health systems are inclusive, accountable, and responsive. His advocacy extends beyond health to governance, environment, and social justice, positioning him as a multidisciplinary leader shaping healthier and more equitable societies. afrepton AT gmail.com