This archive report was first published on 22 June 2021.
On 15 March 2020, hours before the Ministry of Health announced Kenya's first Covid-19 case, a group of computer scientists in Kilimani were working on a revolutionary project.
Fast forward to two weeks ago, the government launched the Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (CEMA), a national data centre to support the control, elimination, and eradication of infectious diseases in Eastern and Central Africa.
Qhala, a Nairobi-based tech company, was burning the midnight oil to answer the question: how could data contribute to the national response in Kenya?
Dr Shikoh Gitau, a University of Cape Town computer science graduate, and her team were developing a digital contact tracing tool to help the government respond to rising cases of cholera in the country.
Dr Thumbi Mwangi and Dr Loice Ombajo, who heads the Infectious Disease Unit at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), joined forces with Dr Gitau to bring to light data that was publicly available but had never been used for evidence-based decision-making.
According to Dr Gitau, data should be freely available, allowing multiple perspectives and interpretations.
“If data is just in the hands of a few people, they can use it to tell us what they want or feel like. But if everyone is looking at the same data set, we will have more enriching interpretations of that particular set,” Dr Gitau explained in an interview with Nation.
The innovators' work informed the decision to lock down the country, saving countless lives in the early days of the pandemic.
Kevin Juma, a software engineer based in Nairobi, agreed with Dr Gitau, highlighting the importance of making data available and promoting inference-driven judgement.
“Democratising data involves creating common data models and configuration-driven pipelines to enable capabilities such as data lakes. Unifying this data and exposing it to various sources means that data which was once available to specific people is now available to all,” Mr Juma explained.
However, he cautioned that as data literacy skills grow, so should vigilance against abuse and other forms of malpractices.
According to the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) at the Ministry of ICT, Maureen Mbaka, the government is keen to develop a robust policy, legal and regulatory framework and digital skills competencies to accelerate the digital transformation and spur growth in the technology sector.
“So today, I want to congratulate the partnership of CEMA for its agility, for its steadfast dedication to making available clear and reliable data that, ultimately, saved many lives in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Ms Mbaka said during the official launch.
