Open AccessDesign of a FAIR digital data health infrastructure in Africa for COVID‐19 reporting and research
Author(s) -
Reisen Mirjam,
Oladipo Francisca,
Stokmans Mia,
Mpezamihgo Mouhamed,
Folorunso Sakinat,
Schultes Erik,
Basajja Mariam,
Aktau Aliya,
Amare Samson Yohannes,
Taye Getu Tadele,
Purnama Jati Putu Hadi,
Chindoza Kudakwashe,
Wirtz Morgane,
Ghardallou Meriem,
Stam Gertjan,
Ayele Wondimu,
Nalugala Reginald,
Abdullahi Ibrahim,
Osigwe Obinna,
Graybeal John,
Medhanyie Araya Abrha,
Kawu Abdullahi Abubakar,
Liu Fenghong,
Wolstencroft Katy,
Flikkenschild Erik,
Lin Yi,
Stocker Joëlle,
Musen Mark A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2641-6573
DOI - 10.1002/ggn2.10050
Subject(s) - analytics , tanzania , data science , data quality , computer science , big data , aggregate data , architecture , health care , geography , data mining , business , medicine , economic growth , environmental planning , economics , pathology , metric (unit) , archaeology , marketing
The limited volume of COVID‐19 data from Africa raises concerns for global genome research, which requires a diversity of genotypes for accurate disease prediction, including on the provenance of the new SARS‐CoV‐2 mutations. The Virus Outbreak Data Network (VODAN)‐Africa studied the possibility of increasing the production of clinical data, finding concerns about data ownership, and the limited use of health data for quality treatment at point of care. To address this, VODAN Africa developed an architecture to record clinical health data and research data collected on the incidence of COVID‐19, producing these as human‐ and machine‐readable data objects in a distributed architecture of locally governed, linked, human‐ and machine‐readable data. This architecture supports analytics at the point of care and—through data visiting, across facilities—for generic analytics. An algorithm was run across FAIR Data Points to visit the distributed data and produce aggregate findings. The FAIR data architecture is deployed in Uganda, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Tunisia.