273305 Using cloud technologies to improve the data impact of PEPFAR programs in Tanzania

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 8:30 AM - 8:50 AM

Robert Gern, DrPH , Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Northrop Grumman – IS, Atlanta, GA
Background: Reporting of performance indicators is a critical component of global HIV/AIDS intervention activities. Those programs funded by the U.S. government's PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) have Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements. Without an efficient reporting system, this requirement can be difficult to manage and result in staff burn-out when coordinating across multiple Implementing Partners and Agencies.

Objective/Purpose: To achieve productivity gains in reporting HIV/AIDS Program Results through the use of automation, and improved planning and programming capabilities through an enhanced ability to use reported data in one country in Africa. Methods: Analyze the implementation, focus, and performance of PROMIS (PEPFAR Records and Organization Management Information System), a secure cloud-based health data system which was successfully deployed in Tanzania in 2010. PROMIS's data governance model is based on a shared cloud computing environment.

Results: Using PROMIS, over 500 users in Tanzania have access to a data repository which includes over 5,000 facilities, over 6,000 public health training activities and events, and 600,000 corresponding Indicator facts. This system allows timely reports to be generated to Government agencies and Implementing Partners on Country performance versus targets, including de-duplication of in-Country data overlaps. Partners now have direct access to their past and current results. In addition to reduced staff time required for data cleaning, the PROMIS approach improved management of partner reporting, and expanded results visibility and access across all U.S. agencies in Tanzania.

Discussion/Conclusions: Prior to PROMIS, the approach in Tanzania was to collect results from Partners via templates and manually transfer these to master spreadsheets. Partners were unable to analyze or re-use their own entered results. With PROMIS, shared data use now supports Evidence-Based Decision-Making and improves inter-Agency and partner collaboration. The tool facilitates improvements in multi-agency access to information for planning, budgeting and program review. Other PEPFAR countries have expressed interest in using the system.

Learning Areas:
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Identify best practices for managing HIIT development and implementation at a distance. Identify best practices for delivering data collection and reporting services to areas with network infrastructure challenges. Assess steps required to deploy PROMIS to a new location.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have more than 28 years of experience in public health, including 5 years in international health. I have expertise in public health surveillance, surveys, monitoring and evaluation, data management and databases. He has been a Principal Investigator for the CDC's National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) project in Atlanta. I also serve as an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Public Health, College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
Northrop Grumman Information Services Employment (includes retainer)

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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