FG, NESG, AIG partner on database for virus containment

There is a move by Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Federal Government to jointly fund Nigeria COVID-19 Incidence and Resource Tracker, Dashboard and Predictive Analytic Platform (Systems Platform) to assist in containing COVID-19 pandemic.

Essentially, the systems platform solution is to provide a robust, up-to-date database of federal and sub-national resources for the COVID-19 response, based on World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended specifications on packages for the pandemic.

Chief Executive Officer of NESG, Laoye Jaiyeola explained that the systems platform would provide a national and sub-national inventory management system that gives national visibility of what is procured, in-stock and out-of-stock across the federal and states testing, treatment and isolation centres.

He added that the real-time data provided would enable government, private sector, international organisations and other donors to mobilise more effectively in providing the critical human and material resources needed to support the country’s response to the health crisis.

On May 19, 2020, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, which was constituted by heads of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other ministries, departments and agencies, endorsed the partnership between AIG and NESG for the development of the systems platform. It was learnt that the systems platform is also being deployed in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

Director of AIG, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede said that beyond improving the transparency, accountability and governance of national resources co-sourced from the public, the predictive analytic model embedded in the platform would enable the PTF and NCDC predict and project the rate of infections, deaths and consequent resource requirements.

According to Aig-Imoukhuede, “The Systems Platform is expected to improve the national and state health information management system by adding the platform’s capabilities seamlessly to the country’s existing data ecosystem. The overarching objective is to help in galvanizing efforts at efficiently plugging nationwide resource gaps across the three priority areas of testing, treatment and isolation as well as contact tracing and tracking in the context of COVID-19.”