By Isaac Akugizibwe

KIU, Main Campus - The United Nations, through its educational and scientific organisation – UNESCO, has applauded the Virus Outbreak Data Network (VODAN) and KIU for their innovative approach to  “data sharing and re-use under the present COVID-19 circumstances.” 

UNESCO recently issued her second annual report on Engineering for Sustainable Development Goals in which VODAN-Africa is mentioned as a technical innovation for COVID-19 pandemic data: The VODAN-Africa project is led by Kampala International University (KIU) in Uganda, and Prof. Francisca Oladipo is the coordinator of VODAN Africa and a member of the Pan African Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Oladipo said, “Since COVID-19 we have realised we can work easily over zoom with experts from all over the continent. We collaborate with 12 universities across the continent to enhance our capacities and that of our students. We meet every week with 40 experts on zoom. This programme has shown that collectively we can achieve critical innovation for the continent and we are proud of it.” 

The team has also developed online learning curricula to ensure the innovation will be supported by sufficient expertise and will generate employment on the continent. The online curricula will be freely available to support teachers and students at the Digital Learning Platform of Kampala International University.

VODAN Africa provides a dashboard of real-life data within the clinic which is also where the data is stored. The real-time dashboard is realised as data is machine-readable. This technology is provided as the new smart technology that will help revolutionize health care. In addition, aggregate data queries can be executed if and when clinics approve, and under the guidelines of their respective Health Ministries.