The Ghana AIDS Commission has begun a nationwide training programme to improve the collection, analysis and reporting of HIV data at the community level.

The initiative is targeting civil society organisations and other partners involved in Ghana’s HIV response, with the Commission seeking to strengthen the quality and reliability of data used to guide policy and measure progress towards ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030.

Speaking to JoyNews during the training in Koforidua, Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ghana AIDS Commission, Isaiah Doe Kwao, said the exercise would equip partners with the systems and tools needed to accurately report HIV-related information.

“We are hoping that our partners and the CSOs become conversant with the system and are able to use it to report accurately and correctly so that we'll be able to measure our progress and be able to report both nationally and internationally,” he said.

Participants were also introduced to data management and analysis tools, including Power BI, R software and Power Query.

Mr Kwao said strengthening data collection would provide the Commission with reliable information for policy decisions, target setting, international reporting and the preparation of funding proposals.

“The exercise is targeted to actually collect the basic data that is critical for policy decision-making and target setting and even for international reporting and proposal writing to be able to get funds to implement the national response,” he said.

He stressed the importance of accurate information in assessing the effectiveness of interventions.

“We are in the era where you see data is money; data speaks. Once we have the correct data, you know you are doing the right thing,” he said.

Mr Kwao said improved data would also help Ghana monitor its progress towards the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets.

“We will be able to measure the progress, especially to meet the 95-95-95 targets. So this is our objective,” he added.

The 95-95-95 framework seeks to ensure that 95% of people living with HIV know their status, 95% of those who know their status are on treatment, and 95% of people on treatment achieve viral suppression.

Monitoring and Evaluation/Strategic Information Lead at the Ghana-West Africa Program to Combat AIDS & STI (WAPCAS), Evans Mensah, who participated in the training, said reliable data was essential to identifying gaps in the national HIV response.

“Data is everything in the world we live in now, and especially in the health sector. We need data to track progress, challenges, and then the way forward, and ensuring that people are receiving the right treatment and are being given the right services,” he said.

He said the training had improved participants’ ability to collect, analyse and present information on HIV programmes and progress towards the 95-95-95 targets.

“So, this training is part of efforts to strengthen data collection, analysis and representation on programme implementation, and the progress made towards achieving the 95-95-95,” he added.

Mr Mensah said participants had also gained practical experience in collecting quality data at the community level through web-based systems.

He explained that the information collected must subsequently be checked and validated before analysis and reporting.

“Now that the data has been collected, we can trim, validate, analyse, and then use the right tools to do the reporting,” he said.

The Ghana AIDS Commission plans to extend the training to stakeholders across the country as it works to strengthen HIV data systems and improve the information available for planning, monitoring and evaluating the national HIV response.