Seeking to learn from advancements in public health informatics, Ben Huntington, Cecilie Walde, and Edgar Brun (WOAH Collaborating Centre for the Economics of Animal Health in Europe) participated in the DHIS2 annual conference at the University of Oslo from the 9th -13th June 2025. DHIS2 is the world’s largest health management information system, in use by the governments of 80 low and middle-income countries, to capture individual health care data and produce aggregated reports. Leveraging this experience and the support of locally driven HISP centres, several countries are starting to use DHIS2 to collect animal health surveillance data.

The team hosted a side event with support from Stefano Perotti (University of Oslo). Edgar introduced the meeting, reminding the audience of the importance of the health of farmed animals for the health of society and the environment. Fernanda Dorea explained FAO’s vision for support to animal health surveillance systems, strengthening the whole surveillance continuum and supporting the design of risk reduction strategies. Jean-Paul Hategekimana (HISP Rwanda) explained the implementation of an integrated one health event-based case management system and the need for a systems thinking approach to include society and environment in health technology solutions. Koffi Siliadin (Hisp West and Central Africa) presented lessons learned from multi-sectoral surveillance activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, and Togo. He explained the importance of multi-sectoral steering mechanisms, continuous capacity building and compelling visualisations to drive joint decision-making. Ben rounded off the meeting with a description of the GBADs programmes’ motivations, progress and the desire to engage with DHIS2 to learn how we can collaborate to improve animal health surveillance systems.

You can watch the session below. 

If you would like to know more about the GBADs or the WOAH Collaborating Centre, contact us.