Articles

Johanes N. Rwenyagira remembers what it used to be like to conduct supervisory visits in his region of Morogoro. As the country’s second largest region, located in Eastern Tanzania, supervisory visits were a necessary part of assessing the performance and current health trends of the area. But the fragmented, paper-based process was riddled with challenges.

COVID-19 brought on the worst decline in childhood vaccination rates in 30 years, underscoring the need for increased investment in health systems.

While the hypothesis that better data use will lead to better health seems simple, Marty Gross, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, knows just how complex it is—because most investments in better data use start with technology, and the real impact comes from building and understanding the needs of the data users.

As health systems around the world reeled from COVID-19—struggling under the strain of new patients and the challenges of mass vaccination campaigns—Tanzania’s Capacity Building Consortium (CBC) saw an opportunity. Social distancing requirements presented the chance to launch and build momentum for eLearning platforms.