How Nigeria’s fresh approach to data collection could uncover key health insights

• Nigeria is experimenting with new data collection methods that could result in richer datasets
• More detailed datasets make it possible to track patient behaviors and disease prevalence so that relevant services are allocated to where the needs are
• Nigeria’s health data infrastructure makes it an attractive place for pharmaceutical and Policy R&D initiatives

Nigeria is developing a new way of collecting data as it seeks to bolster its primary healthcare system and ensure improved patient access to healthcare professionals as well as medicines and important diagnostic services.

Nigeria, a country with a population of 220 million, has a network of more than 30,000 primary healthcare facilities, but according to the Nigerian Medical Association, the doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:10,000.¹ As a result, the primary healthcare system is strongly challenged in meeting the growing demands of the population.

Greater and more effective use of data, such as data collected through routine monitoring and evaluation exercises, could provide the system with the insights and information points it needs to address serious gaps in healthcare provision.

As a way of generating and collecting these data, Nigeria is taking a “hardware-first” approach. Purpose-built hardware that works offline to capture longitudinal data that is later synced to the cloud is being piloted.

Like the financial technology system before it, the primary healthcare system is leveraging durable and long-life battery-powered hardware to enable the use of digital innovations, such as reference treatment guidelines that are adapted to local languages and telemedicine calls.

This new hardware could come in the form of e-ink tablets and stylus pens that healthcare providers can use to write notes directly into a digital device, removing the need for them to type truncated notes into a computer and allowing for richer datasets that more accurately capture what patients are telling them. And it’s an approach that could be used anywhere in the world.

Nigeria’s health data regulatory landscape has been evolving over the last few years. In 2023, the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) was established following the Nigerian Data Protection Act. Empowering NDPC in implementing the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), which builds on the National Health Act of 2014 that ensures data security and privacy.²

Authorities hope that the local development and adoption of a trusted research environment will result in better care for people living in Nigeria, whilst also making Nigeria an attractive place for companies to conduct clinical research. This could be particularly powerful when combined with the availability of de-identified and connected data from electronic health records, insurance, pharmacies, laboratories, imaging, and genomics data sources.

By collecting data from routine monitoring and evaluation activity and combining it with geography data, it will be possible to build a pattern of “patient traffic” to primary healthcare centers. In other words, it will be possible to map when patients are seeking care, what kind of care they are seeking, where they need that care, and from whom they would like care – for example, physicians, nurses, or midwives.

As a result of this information, models can be created and fine-tuned over time to support the deployment of scarce healthcare professionals at primary healthcare centers across the country, placing them in the centers that are closest to the patients who need them. It will also allow for the care that is most needed and in highest demand to be prioritized thus ensuring service delivery meets demand.

Section textaThe growing number of pharma-tech innovations in Nigeria is helping to digitize several aspects of the value chain, making data easier to harness and analyze. This could play a key role in improving patient access to medicines and diagnostic services.

Epidemiological data from hospitals, laboratories, and pharmacies as well as drug consumption and procurement data can provide pharmaceutical and medtech companies with crucial insights about demand for their products, helping them to manage their complex supply chains more efficiently and effectively.

These data are essential for forecasting shortages and can give companies additional time to put in place the steps and measures that will mitigate product stock-outs, helping to prevent supply disruption. They also ensure that the products distributed are meeting the needs of the local patient population.

For Nigeria to unlock clinical trial recruitment of patients into cutting-edge research, real-world data must be accessible. De-identified and linked EHR, pharmacy, lab, imaging, and genomics data aggregated from multiple sources, and analyzed within a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) must be available. This would enable data-driven cohort identification as well as study and site protocol feasibility analysis. One such TRE in Nigeria boasts access to more than 200 Million health records and supports engagement with the pharma industry and Academic community.³

Nigeria is taking important steps to leverage data to improve several aspects of the value chain, from service access and insurance to clinical research. The current momentum in the ecosystem gives reason to be optimistic that new collection methods and tight regulations will help to advance the level of care available in Nigeria.

For other nations, now might be the time to be paying attention to some of the innovative methods being implemented here.