Digitising data to respond to COVID-19 in Afghanistan
The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat is working with the Afghan Ministry of Public Health to streamline data collection and management.
In the middle of a disaster, accessing real-time data helps communities, organisations, and governments make timely and informed decisions that can help save lives. Because of this, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) in Afghanistan started digitising data from seven Afghan provinces in 2019.
This year, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health reached out to AKAH for support in improving data management across all 34 provinces in Afghanistan. AKAH specializes in disaster management and response and works to help communities prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
In 2019, AKAH began working with ActivityInfo, an online data system, to replace the paper-based data collection system they had relied on in the past. ActivityInfo’s tool provided a centralised place to collect and manage data, and saved time in inputting and analyzing data to help AKAH make quicker and better informed decisions.
In 2020, as part of Afghanistan’s COVID-19 response, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health requested AKAH’s support to improve data management for the Crisis Coordination Centre. AKAH recommended ActivityInfo to streamline data collection and management across the country, and in May, the partners created a system that links the 34 provinces of Afghanistan with the Crisis Coordination Centre in Kabul.
Today, the system is used to manage data related to the COVID-19 response countrywide. All formal data related to COVID-19 are collected in ActivityInfo under the Ministry of Public Health, and the Ministry can quickly access data and developments in the country through a single source.
Learn more about how AKAH is using ActivityInfo to streamline data collection and management in Afghanistan by requesting the case study.
