Aggregated data and metadata are open to the public
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control publishes Covid-19 related aggregate statistics daily on its website and on various social media platforms. This information includes the reported number of new confirmed Covid-19 positive cases by State; the reported number of aggregate Covid-19 positive cases; the aggregate number of reported “discharged” persons; and the reported number of aggregate Covid-19 deaths. The COVID-19 Tracking Dashboard, which expresses the aggregate data, is operated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in partnership with eHealth Africa.
Open source software and algorithms are used to analyse data
“A cloud based digital tool for surveillance called the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System “SORMAS” has been used by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control to track the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria. SORMAS facilitates disease control and outbreak management, in addition to disease surveillance and epidemiological analysis, for all administrative levels of the public health system. SORMAS is an open-source and free-of-charge software, supported by a strong community of developers with funding from multiple sources. Source codes and technical specifications are managed and documented on the GitHub website, where software developers can access and alter them. For developing interoperability between SORMAS and other digital applications such as DHIS2, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is used, which is an industry standard for exchanging healthcare data between systems. FHIR is also opensource.
The SORMAS-CoV module contains all disease-specific diagnostic standards, case definitions, and containment procedures defined by the World Health Organization. SORMAS allows for the assignment of different user roles within public health services. The module allows the targeted collection of relevant epidemiological data about the case person, including hospitalization, symptoms and persons with whom they have come into contact. Furthermore, the task management feature facilitates coordinated action of the surveillance personnel in the outbreak response.”