CDC’s Epidemiology and Strategic Information Branch in South Africa
CDC South Africa provides technical expertise on designing and implementing surveillance systems and surveys and developing systems to monitor and evaluate HIV prevention, care and treatment programs and tuberculosis programs. Resulting data give program planners, policy makers, and other stakeholders a better understanding of the complex and dynamic nature of the HIV epidemic.
Mission
To provide expert technical assistance, enhance strategic information (SI) capacity, and advance public health science in collaboration with the South African (SA) government, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and other CDC-SA programs through statistical and epidemiologic methods, surveillance and surveys, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data and systems, and health information systems (HIS).
- Support the national M&E system including the strategic plan and data use for decision-making.
- Support the development of a platform for routine data use, data sharing, and data quality assessment to improve program planning.
- Support a national surveys and surveillance strategic plan including enhanced epidemiologic, surveys and surveillance, and operational research methods.
- Support SA government health information systems including system integration and interoperability.
- Provide expert technical assistance to PEPFAR implementing partners and on program initiatives.
- Provided technical assistance on the National HIV Prevalence and Incidence Survey.
- Reported PEPFAR’s Semi-Annual and Annual Program Results 2014 (SAPR / APR) on time.
- Co-coordinated Site Monitoring Strategy visits via data entry, analysis, and submission support.
- Supported the development of an electronic module to report country-specific technical assistance indicator results.
- Collaborated with NDoH, UNAIDS, and the PEPFAR SA Team on an HIV micro-epidemics analysis.
- Supported the UNAIDS country spectrum estimate team.
- Develop an SI strategic plan including M&E, surveillance and surveys, and implementation science / operational research.
- Conduct operational research and surveillance activities for evidence-based program improvement.
- Conduct epidemiologic analysis to identify geographic and population prioritization.
- Enhance linkages with the National Department of Health (NDoH) to improve data quality and access.
- Align PEPFAR reporting structures with NDoH systems to meet requirements where possible.
- Provide technical and management oversight on strategic information cooperative agreements.
- Surveys and surveillance;
- Epidemiology and operational research;
- Monitoring and Evaluation;
- Statistics;
- Data management; and
- Health Information Systems.
