Harnessing the Power of Data to Accelerate HIV Epidemic Control in West Africa

The technical assistance aimed to enhance a culture of data use and support evidence-based decision making. Data.FI conducted a series of onboarding sessions with the USAID Strategic Information Team to establish weekly coaching sessions with FHI 360. Together, they developed an action plan for providing support related to data review meetings and data use mentoring, and engagement around global guidance. The objectives of the technical assistance included strengthening practices for data analysis and use, optimizing data quality of recently implemented high-frequency reporting data, and disseminating guidance around data security and deduplication of electronic HIV records. #EAWA implements several important data use activities to inform planning and resource allocation. On a quarterly basis, USAID/West Africa convenes data review meetings for which the technical leadership of #EAWA prepares analyses for discussion. Based on priorities articulated during these meetings, #EAWA subsequently convenes additional data review meetings with the 25 health facilities in Togo and with 17 health facilities in Burkina Faso, along with representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs) who attend in clusters to review their performance. Meeting minutes with recommendations are regularly shared with participants. Data.FI shared recommendations for strengthening data use practices, including organizing shorter, more focused meetings, rethinking stakeholder invitations, preparing more compelling analyses, and creating a meeting moderation team. Data.FI recommends organizing data review with a broader spectrum of representatives to include more robust participation from the Ministry of Health (MOH), implementing partner staff, and health facility representatives. The meeting facilitator should elicit priorities from decision makers when preparing the analyses and have a deep understanding of the technical area. Data.FI also provided guidance on data security and deduplication of electronic HIV records. The project emphasized the importance of protecting personally identifiable information (PII) and recommended implementing measures to prevent duplication of electronic HIV records. Data.FI provided recommendations for consideration by USAID/West Africa, including strengthening data analysis and use, improving data quality, and disseminating guidance around data security and deduplication of electronic HIV records. The technical assistance provided by Data.FI aimed to support the #EAWA project in strengthening its data analysis and use practices, improving data quality, and disseminating guidance around data security and deduplication of electronic HIV records. The project's recommendations and guidance are intended to support evidence-based decision making and enhance a culture of data use within the #EAWA project.