BRIDGE NETWORK

The challenge

There is growing interest in using routinely collected health data to gain a better understanding of patterns of disease, assess the effectiveness of drugs in real-world settings, and monitor the safety of medical interventions. 

However, these data are typically distributed across a wide range of data sources, including electronic health records, disease registries, research study databases and other repositories. It is technically challenging to link these data sources, particularly when different types of data are collected or when data are held in different formats.

In addition, sub-Saharan Africa has a shortage of both healthcare workers and clinical researchers, including those with skills in health informatics. There are few training opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa for clinicians or early-career researchers with an interest in applying informatics to improve health.

The project

The BRIDGE Network project is establishing a training programme to strengthen human capacity in health informatics research in sub-Saharan Africa.

Building on a long-standing European–African collaboration, five centres of excellence are being established in Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. These centres will provide training on the use of health data to individuals at different levels, including four postdoctoral fellows and up to 20 PhD students, with a further 20 being trained to postgraduate certification level.

The centres will provide a high-quality environment in which PhD and postdoctoral researchers can develop research projects based on local health needs and data sources. The centres will also develop data standards and a technical infrastructure to ensure the compatibility of data and facilitate data sharing. This will be based on a federated approach, where data remains in a secure environment during analysis.   

Certification-level training will draw upon an existing European programme. It will include mentoring by staff in both Europe and Africa, as well as a placement at an academic or industry site in Europe.

Impact

The BRIDGE Network project will strengthen health informatics research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa. It will:

• Create a cohort of researchers, at different career stages, with the ability to apply health informatics methodologies to address locally relevant health questions.
• Provide additional opportunities for postgraduate students to develop their careers within Africa further.
• Build leadership skills so that responses to emerging health challenges can be led by researchers from sub-Saharan Africa.

Ultimately, the BRIDGE Network project will strengthen human research capacity to leverage the growing opportunities offered by health data to improve healthcare and reduce the burden of disease in sub-Saharan Africa.