Strengthening the management of Immunization Data in the Americas

106 lectures

Curso R avanzado 1 Octavia SilvaDates: 18-26/03/2024

Participants: Participants from the ministries of health of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Dominican Republic Uruguay, as well as staff from PAHO’s Special Program on Comprehensive Immunization (CIM)

Overview: PAHO CIM, in collaboration with the PAHO’s Health Emergencies Department (PHE) and in an effort to provide the countries of the Region of the Americas with robust and sustainable tools to analyze data from immunization programs, developed a training that gave continuity to what was worked on during the Basic R course developed at the end of 2023.

The main objective of the training was to transfer knowledge on advanced topics in the use of R and its environment to people in charge of data analysis of immunization programs in the Region of the Americas. The training was held during the month of March 2024 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The training lasted 40 hours separated into five days that were divided into lessons and group work.

The main mission of the participants was to generate a dashboard to inform the community about the progress of a follow-up vaccination campaign for measles and rubella using R and R Shiny. The content of the training was structured in four units:

• Connecting to databases
• Database management and analysis, and advanced data visualization
• Map visualization tools
• Creating and publishing dashboards The training also helped to strengthen ties between country data analysts, which led to the commitment of further studies and advanced analyses of immunization data.

Outcomes: The work will continue to improve data analysis in the countries. Courses are already being carried out in countries, basic and advanced, in addition to offering other intermediate or advanced topics and promoting the use of R to monitor immunization data. The main objective is for countries to use these tools. Examples of this are: Chile presenting a systematic internal report on vaccination, and Panama is implementing its measles vaccination campaign monitoring dashboard that the country is currently carrying out. 

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Author: PAHO
Photo caption: Participants at the advanced workshop on R celebrated in Guatemala.

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