NAIROBI, Kenya: GOOD data and reliable health statistics provided by Africa Union (AU) member states are important to ensure the monitoring and evaluation of Agenda 2063 for the Sustainable Development Goals, an expert has said.
Senior statistician at the Department of Economic Affairs of the AU, Dr Jose Awong Alene said that when he was speaking at the Ethics Training from Member States about the indicators of Health Statistics held in Nairobi, Kenya over the weekend.
Dr Jose said that the training which brought together representatives of the National Statistics Offices as well as the representatives of the Ministries of Health of the member countries.
He said the training was also crucial for African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC) and to the whole continent for making better decisions, monitoring and evaluation even the availability of projects and plans to be implemented throughout the continent.
"The Economic Affairs Commission as the chairman of the technical working group on health indicators under the funding of African Statistical Harmonisation Strategy (SHASA2) has organised this training in Nairobi so that we can analyse health indicators for agenda 2063," he said.
"The main objective of the training was to provide training on health data analysis as well as provide and strengthen technical and analytical skills in the analysis of health data." said Dr Awong.
Dr Awong said the training will enable member states to provide accurate health statistics for analysis and distribution as required by Agenda 2063.
During the presentation, Mr Sampson Osei, a statistician from the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Secretariat of the African Continent, South Africa said about 80 health indicators were developed for African Union.
He said that the national population and household census is carried out every year in many countries and that the data includes the entire population that provides the correct denomination and small groups of people.
Mr Osei said that census data can be divided and can be a good source of information especially about gender, social and economic status, race or ethnicity, age and geography.
