By Franca Ofili
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and African Union Member States have advanced efforts to harmonise Behavioural Intelligence and Infodemic Management (BIIM) across Africa to strengthen public-health decision-making and outcomes.
Africa CDC said in a statement that the initiative seeks to strengthen the use of behavioural, social, community and information-environment evidence in public-health decisions and actions across African countries and institutions.
It said a workshop brought together Member State experts, regional institutions, public-health leaders and technical partners to review and validate the emerging Continental BIIM package for coordinated implementation across Africa.
“The package includes a BIIM Framework, Strategy, Digital and Data Architecture, and Roadmap for institutionalisation and implementation,” the agency stated, outlining key components designed to guide continental coordination and adoption.
Representatives from Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe participated in the process, alongside regional institutions and technical partners supporting public-health surveillance, preparedness, response and behavioural intelligence initiatives.
“The ECOWAS Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC), WHO’s Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA) and other partners also participated.
“BIIM is being developed as a public-health intelligence capability that will enable countries to integrate and triangulate multiple sources of evidence.
“The evidence will include behavioural and social data, community feedback, social listening, information-environment signals, programme and service-delivery data, and rapid research,” it added, highlighting the range of information sources involved.
According to Africa CDC, the emerging continental approach is based on the principle that BIIM will be Member State-owned, Africa CDC-stewarded, partner-supported and funder-enabled to ensure sustainability and accountability.
It said Ms Mary Muriuki, Principal Secretary, Kenya Ministry of Health, emphasised that national ownership would be central to the success of BIIM across African countries and public-health institutions.
According to the statement, Muriuki said BIIM was not intended to create another platform or parallel system, but to strengthen and connect existing national capabilities and structures effectively.
It added that she also agreed to champion BIIM across Africa, helping to strengthen Member State leadership and political engagement around its institutionalisation and long-term implementation efforts continent-wide.
“Participants noted that African public-health systems already generate substantial behavioural, community, programme and information-environment evidence,”
It also acknowledged existing data-generation capacities across multiple sectors and institutions.
“However, much of the evidence remains fragmented across programmes and institutions, limiting its systematic use for decision-making,” participants observed during discussions on strengthening intelligence systems and coordination.
“BIIM is therefore designed to connect existing capabilities while establishing common standards for quality, governance, interoperability and shared learning.
“The emerging model is federated, allowing Member States to determine their institutional arrangements, data stewardship and implementation models,” it added, while maintaining alignment with continental standards and guidance.
According to the agency, Africa CDC will provide continental stewardship through common standards, technical guidance, coordination, quality assurance and cross-country learning to strengthen implementation and shared progress.
“A major focus of the workshop was ensuring that BIIM moves beyond data collection to generate intelligence that can directly support public-health action.
“The intelligence-to-action pathway covers priority questions, signals, integration and triangulation, interpretation, prioritisation, decisions, action, tracking and learning,” it added, describing the framework’s operational cycle and processes.
It said participants said community concerns, rumours, survey findings, service-delivery problems and social-media trends could serve as signals requiring verification and interpretation.
It said that once verified and triangulated with other evidence, such signals can become decision-ready intelligence for public-health authorities responsible for planning, response and service improvement across sectors.
“BIIM is expected to support emergency preparedness and response, immunisation, primary health care, community trust, service uptake and other priority health behaviours,” the agency stated in outlining benefits.
According to the statement, Dr Lul Riek, Special Representative of the Director General for the Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre, Africa CDC, described institutionalisation as the initiative’s real test.
It quoted Riek as saying behavioural intelligence must become part of routine processes through which public-health institutions understand risks, make decisions and act effectively across diverse health challenges.
The statement also said Dr Priscilla Madzinga-Kusena, Head of Social and Behaviour Change and Advocacy, Africa CDC, emphasised strengthening systems that connected evidence directly with decisions and action.
According to it, Mr Patrick Lansana, Vice President, ECOWAS RCCE Network, said the ECOWAS RCSDC welcomed the Continental BIIM Framework and would continue supporting regional coordination and cross-border intelligence efforts.
“The workshop marks a transition from framework development and harmonisation towards institutionalisation and implementation, with immediate priorities including national pathways, priority use cases, regional coordination and aligned technical support.
“The long-term goal is an interconnected African public-health intelligence capability in which Member States generate, own and use behavioural intelligence nationally while benefiting from regional coordination, common standards and continental learning.”(NAN)
Edited by Abiemwense Moru
