Democratic Republic of the Congo

CHISU is supporting DRC’s ministry of health (Ministère de la Santé Publique, or MSP) to: 

• Improve coordination of malaria data systems
• Strengthen the implementation of guidelines and digital tools
• Improve the availability, quality, and timeliness of malaria data
• Strengthen the review and analysis of malaria data at the national and provincial levels

How is CHISU supporting digital transformation in DRC?

CHISU is supporting DRC’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP, or Programme National de Lutte Contre le Paludisme) work at the national level and in nine provinces, with five hosting dedicated advisors: Haut Katanga, Tanganyika, Kasai Oriental, Kasai Central, and Sud Kivu. These provinces were selected after NMCP identified 10 provinces with the highest level of malaria since 2018 (i.e., malaria burden above 60 percent). From those 10, five fall within the nine provinces that the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) currently supports. CHISU is targeting its support to these five provinces while also providing limited virtual and meeting support to the other four PMI provinces, as they also have some of the greatest issues regarding timeliness and completeness of malaria data.

Supporting malaria surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation

At the national level, CHISU is supporting NMCP to:

• Organize key coordination meetings and data review and analysis meetings to ensure that they have the ability and resources to lead DRC’s malaria response 
• Disseminate tools and guidance (including malaria Routine Data Quality Assessments, or mRDQAs, and the Malaria Dashboard)
• Organize NMCP annual reviews in each of the nine PMI-supported provinces
• Make strong evidence-informed decisions
• Ensure NMCP can provide provinces with the supervision they need to review and act on the data reported 

At the provincial level, CHISU will support NMCP’s Division Provincial de la Santé (DPS) to: 

• Review data from and provide support to health zones (HZs)
• Use tools and guidance from the NMCP to support data quality, including processes for collection, analysis, and use
• Make critical decisions about where to invest resources 

CHISU is also supporting the NMCP and DPSs to improve coordination among implementers and partners, and is supporting the NMCP to engage in and participate in scientific research. To strengthen DRC’s HIS and increase the availability of quality health data, CHISU is working with NMCP and DPSs to conduct mRDQAs and use the findings to improve data quality through targeted interventions. CHISU is also working with the NMCP and DPSs to develop and disseminate data analysis products, including malaria bulletins and reports, as well as coordinate supervision with other technical assistance providers. Finally, to improve use of health data, CHISU is organizing standardized data review and analysis meetings to assist the NMCP staff to make decisions and share quality data to DPSs and HZs.