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In a bid to protect the tourism sector and save lives in Eastern Cape, the provincial health department has beefed up its capacity in malaria surveillance using the latest platform in data collection.
This is after the national department of health malaria programme held a training workshop for local healthcare workers on the malaria district health information system (DHIS2) recently at the ICC.
28 healthcare workers including epidemiology and surveillance staff, environmental health practitioners from both provincial and district levels participated.
Siyanda Manana, director of communications at the department, told the Go! the training aims to address gaps identified during data verification. He said they were equipped on data-quality challenges, inconsistent reporting practices, incomplete case records, delayed data entry and limited use of DHIS2 at facility level.
“These challenges compromise the accuracy of malaria burden estimates, hinder timely decision-making, and weaken the overall effectiveness of surveillance and response systems.
“Enhancing capacity in malaria information management through DHIS2 is essential for improving programme performance and achieving elimination targets,” said Manana.
The workshop offered practical, hands-on training to enhance district capacity in malaria surveillance using the DHIS2 platform to save lives and protect tourism.
Manana said they were also being trained in data analysis and interpretation, enabling teams to track key malaria indicators, identify emerging trends, and use data for evidence-based planning and decision-making.
“The workshop further aims to foster collaboration among district and provincial staff, allowing them to share experiences, discuss data-related challenges, and standardise reporting and quality-assurance practices.
“This engagement is expected to improve communication, promote consistency in data management and support a coordinated approach to malaria surveillance.
“Strengthening these competencies will ensure alignment with national malaria surveillance requirements, improve programme reporting performance, and enhance provincial capacity to effectively detect and respond to malaria cases,” he said.
Buffalo City Metro healthcare worker Bonelwa Maseti welcomed the training.
“We are one of the areas that receive cases from outside the country, as we have seen in our tertiary hospitals.
“We have been doing malaria case investigations, but now that we have been trained.
“We see the gaps – especially in data collection, finalisation and classification of cases. This training came at the right time; we really needed it,” said Maseti.
She said going forward, teams will collect data more effectively and ensure proper case classification to establish a complete database.
Healthcare worker from Chris Hani district, Nokuzola Malinjwa said they would share the skills and techniques learned during the workshop.
“We are going to cascade the training to our districts. We found that we had gaps, and we have managed to correct those issues.
“We will be in a better position to carry out our duty, which is to eliminate malaria – especially because we are not far from endemic areas like KwaZulu-Natal.”
Amathole district information officer Mzamo Dumile said that although they already had reporting systems in place, the workshop strengthened their ability to produce more accurate, validated and timely malaria data.
“This training has helped us refine our processes. So that our information is reliable and can guide better responses at district and provincial levels,” Dumile said.
