BUJUMBURA March 14th (ABP) – The Minister of Public Health and the Fight Against AIDS, Dr. Thadée Ndikumana, opened in Bujumbura on March 12, 2019, an international workshop for immunization data, documentary data review and peer review monitoring of Joint Reporting Form (JRF), Government-WHO-UNICEF.
Twelve African countries participated in the workshop, including Burundi, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Cape Verde.
The public health Minister indicated in his speech that the organization of the workshop offers an ideal framework of exchange of experiences which will help those countries improve the performances of the vaccination activities through the improvement of the Information products required of 2018 program performances. That workshop will also build capacity of participants to measure performance and make a documentary review of the data, Minister Ndikumana said.
The conclusions from that joint reporting process will not only improve the quality of immunization data, but also encourage all health stakeholders to integrate improved monitoring of activities at all levels, he continued to say.
Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, Head of Mission and WHO Representative in Burundi, noted that since 2012, the World Assembly has adopted the Global Immunization Plan and that subsequently a mechanism and a monitoring and evaluation framework for its implementation have been set up. That mechanism is largely based on the data generated during the workshop and thus involves actors working at the national, regional and global levels, he added.
The JRF is one of the most available tools for measuring progress in each country. The JRF takes stock of the results achieved in the previous year, and each country submits it to WHO and UNICEF in April, by the 15th. Mr. Mulombo also reported that the Central Africa Region to which Burundi belongs has made progress in recent years in the completeness and submission of those reports. However, he continued to say, although the quality of these reports has improved over the years, there are still opportunities for refinement and improvement in the completion of this framework.
