GLOBAL HEALTH
APHL Leads Collaboration to Strengthen Data Exchange in Uganda
By Rufus Nyaga , informatics technical manager , APHL Kenya and Matthew McCarroll , MS , principal specialist , Global Health
The Central Public Health Laboratory in Kampala , Uganda .
“ A little among neighbors is worth more than riches in a wilderness ,” goes a Welsh proverb . This proved to be true when Uganda and Kenya , two neighboring countries in East Africa , decided to work together to solve a common problem , with a little bit of help from APHL .
In April 2023 , an assessment conducted by APHL revealed that Uganda ’ s central public health laboratory ( CPHL )— equivalent to a national reference laboratory — has six different laboratory information systems ( LIS ) collecting and storing surveillance data . This laboratory also receives , via email , sentinel surveillance data on outbreaks from hundreds of hospitals throughout the country in spreadsheet format . The collection of disparate LIS , spreadsheets and logbooks , while allowing for rapid roll out of data collection tools , can ultimately lead to an inefficient and timely process of getting quality data into the hands of health and emerging threat decision makers .
To solve this problem , APHL leveraged the digital health accomplishments realized in neighboring Kenya over the last decade . APHL worked closely with the Uganda CPHL and developed a schematic for a central laboratory data repository that would centralize all the CPHL and
Rufus Nyaga ; Matthew McCarroll ; Paul Mbaka , director , Office of Information Technology and Communications , Uganda MOH ; and Proscovia Nambuya , National Laboratory Systems Coordinator , Uganda CPHL , attending the Uganda Digital Conference .
hospital electronic medical record ( EMR ) data . Following recent outbreaks of Ebola , mpox and the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda , the Ministry of Health ( MoH ) had already prioritized the development of a national data warehouse that would collect and store all the health data in the country , ranging from case reports and hospital admissions to laboratory surveillance and confirmed clinical results . APHL ’ s vision was for the data from the centralized laboratory data repository to have a single integration connection to the national data warehouse , enabling laboratory data to be used at the national level for a complete picture of emerging biological threats and subsequently lead to a more efficient threat response .
APHL completed and launched the laboratory repository in May 2024 with four hospital EMR systems , and since then has added all the CPHL information systems as well as nine hospital EMR systems . At the recent Uganda National Digital Health Conference in November 2024 , the Permanent Secretary ( the most senior civil servant position in the MoH ) officially launched Uganda ’ s national data warehouse . APHL was present for this significant event and had an opportunity to engage in strategic discussions with the MoH on the collaboration between Uganda and Kenya and the digital health leadership demonstrated by both countries in linking laboratory and surveillance data . g
20 LAB MATTERS Spring 2025
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