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Harnessing data science technologies to develop solutions to the continent's most pressing public health problems

About Us

The Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) Initiative aims to leverage data science technologies to transform biomedical and behavioral research and develop solutions that would lead to improved health for individuals and populations.

To accomplish this, the DS-I Africa Initiative aims to contribute to the development of the necessary expertise among African scientists, and to establish networks of African investigators.

The vision of DS-I Africa is to create and support a robust pan-continental network of data scientists and technologies that will be equipped to apply advanced data science skills to transform health.

Funders

Contributing Institutes, Centres and Offices

Program Goals

To advance Data Science and related innovations in Africa to create an ecosystem that can begin to provide local solutions to countries’ most immediate public health problems through advances in research.

Create a pan continental network with broad academic, public, private and industry partnerships.

Enhance Data Science capacity through training toward developing a new generation of interdisciplinary African Data Scientists..

Develop new data collection and analytic systems, applications, and tools with attention to usages that are population-relevant, affordable, acceptable, and scalable.

Advances in policy surrounding ethical issues

Facilitate resource access to the global scientific community. Resources may include medical image repositories to be used as a basis for machine learning.

Establish recognized regional and continental DS Centres of Excellence.

Enable new interdisciplinary collaborations and new scientific knowledge.

Demonstration of the feasibility of advanced DS to improve health in Africa

Our Projects

On this page you will find a list of consortium projects. The consortium consists of a data science platform and coordinating center, seven research hubs, seven data science research training programs and four projects focused on studying the ethical, legal and social implications of data science research.

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SEE ALL PROJECTS

Working groups

On this page, you will find the list of Working groups, links to the minutes of their meetings and other documentation about the establishment of the working group and its purpose and function.

Training & Education Working Group

Training is an essential component of all DS-I Africa projects to build data science capacity in Africa. The Training and Education Working Group therefore aims to coordinate and harmonize training efforts, identify gaps, optimize the use of available resources, and increase training opportunities.
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Data Management Working Group

Technical expertise required to translate data into solutions to improve health care is indispensable in this era of data science, enabled by exponential growth of diverse data available for biomedical research. The DS-I Africa Data Management Working Group focuses on the more technical aspects of data use and analysis. We discuss data management plans, data models, data storage, data standards, data harmonization, analysis tools, compute infrastructure for data analysis and the interoperability of data and machines.
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Partnerships & Outreach Working Group

The working group aims to support the consortium's goal of enhancing the impact of data science on health in Africa and spurring innovation through the support of new African and global partnerships. The working group will
  • Create networking opportunities with potential partners.
  • Provide a forum for consortium members to discuss the challenges to partnerships and strategies for effective collaboration.
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Data Governance Working Group

The working group will work towards guiding the consortium on policies and the ethical, legal, and social implications around data use and governance.
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DS-I Africa Steering Committee

The Steering Committee (SC) provides strategic leadership to achieve the overarching program goals. The SC will develop and adopt various governance policies and guidelines that facilitate collaboration, promote sharing and accessibility of resources and new discoveries. Continuous assessments allow for readjustments of ongoing activities.
Membership

Principal investigators, project and data managers from each grant and NIH program staff constitute the Steering Committee membership. Participants are bound by policies and procedures developed by the Steering Committee.

Adoption of such policies and procedures requires a majority vote, each funded project has one vote. The Steering Committee chair and co chair are elected by majority vote, and together with the Coordinating Centre prepares meeting agendas and fulfills all related administrative and management tasks.

Leadership

Chair: Dr Michelle Skelton
Co-Chair: Dr David Tumussime

Terms of reference

TBA

Resources & Outputs

Documents - to follow

Meeting Frequency

Online - monthly
In-person - Bi-annually rotating to various member countries

News & Events

  • DS-I Africa REDCap Workshop

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    We are pleased to announce the DS-I Africa REDCap Workshop 17-18 October 2023, Cape Town South Africa. This workshop is intended to provide some intensive REDCap training for REDCap Users who design…
    DS-I Africa REDCap Workshop

  • REDCap Africa Symposium 2023

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    The annual REDCap Africa Symposium is an event where REDCap administrators and users from Africa gather for technical discussions, use case demonstrations and networking opportunities. Key note…
    REDCap Africa Symposium 2023

  • Third Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium

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    We are pleased to announce that registration is open for the 3rd DS-I Africa Consortium Meeting. The Meeting will be held in Kigali, Rwanda at The Kigali Serena Hotel. The core meeting will take…
    Third Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium

Data Science in Africa (DS-I Africa) Coordinating Centre Team in Kigali, Rwanda to Attend the Data Science Africa Event and Site Visit

The Coordinating Centre team including Francis Agamah, Tino Muzambi and Tanian Natus led by Michelle Skelton had the opportunity to attend the Data Science Africa Summer School and Workshop between 8-13 May 2023 at the University of Rwanda Gikondo Campus.

We are very pleased to have connected with the Data Science Africa Community that have now hosted eleven such events in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. The overall event was attended by about 300 delegates and about 20 facilitators and Speakers.

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Experiences with partnerships from IBM Research and DS-I Africa

Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa), Partnerships & Outreach working group hosted a lively discussion 17 July 2023 "Experiences with partnerships from IBM Research and DS-I Africa” with two excellent guest speakers Skyler Speakman, Senior Scientist/Manager and Charity Wayua, Director, both at IBM Research Nairobi, Kenya. IBM Research Africa works at multiple levels using AI, ML and Quantum Networks on impactful projects. These include improving ease to doing business with the Kenyan Government by streamlining workflows and at the county level by tracking waste collection. Partnerships with USAIDS to improve boreholes in rural areas, while with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation there are multiple projects including Malaria Modelling toward intervention planning. Close to home IBM Research Africa also partners with DS-I Africa Projects MADIVA and HE2AT around digital health.

We are playing AI catch-up in Africa, we need partners that can harness AI for the benefit of all Africans and we see that IBM Africa is certainly making a positive impact.

We will continue the partnerships conversation by following up on the questions posted in the chat for Skyler and Charity. The DS-I Africa Consortium https://dsi-africa.org/ is hosting networking events in September (online) and November (Rwanda). These events are supported by the DS-I Africa Coordinating Centre/eLwazi OPSD CC NIH funded Grant. #DSIAfrica #DataScience #AI #NIH #H3Africa

Roger Glass: The people we fund end up on the front lines

Fogarty International Center director Roger Glass is in Cape Town, South Africa. He’s only recently resumed traveling to meet people in person since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and he’s enjoying it.

He’s here for the second meeting of the Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa), a US$75 million initiative to advance African data science, with a focus on health. The initiative’s first meeting, a year ago, was held virtually.

DS-I Africa was conceived before the pandemic hit, but Covid-19 has clearly illustrated the importance of what the initiative aims to do, Glass told Research Professional News on the sidelines of the meeting.

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African data scientists gather in Cape Town at major networking conference

The Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I-Africa) is holding its first in-person Consortium meeting from 29 October to 3 November 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. The event is taking place at the Protea Hotel Breakwater Lodge and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business on the V&A Waterfront.

The event has attracted over 200 scientists and stakeholders from across Africa and internationally to exchange ideas and showcase their work in data science and health.

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Calendar

Community Engagement

The DS-I Africa Consortium will engage communities throughout the African Continent and the world by sharing information and updates that will include a variety of content and tools:
  • Community Engagement & Health Information
  • Data scientist video series
  • Infographics
  • Literature
  • News
  • Data Science Community Toolkit