Supporting animal & human health surveillance with the SEGA – One Health program

The SEGA – One Health program will soon rely on a DHIS2 platform to support both human and animal health surveillance across several member countries of the Indian Ocean Commission. Once the system is fully deployed, Bluesquare will provide the technical support for national and regional data collection, integration, and analysis through the following operational framework. 

A tailored & locally relevant data collection system

To effectively monitor epidemiological trends, those countries need tools that reflect their own priorities and reporting capacities. The DHIS2 platform enables this flexibility while maintaining a structure compatible with regional surveillance needs.

Adapted forms for national contexts

Each member state that uses DHIS2 has its own set of tailored forms. These forms are derived from WHO/WOAH standard models but adapted to local contexts—whether in terms of reporting workflows, national surveillance needs, or specific epidemiological realities. This approach ensures high-quality data while fostering strong ownership among national stakeholders.

Secure and independent national workspaces 

Each country that is using the platform operates its own independent DHIS2 “national cell.” Data and metadata are strictly partitioned so that only authorized national users can access them. This full data sovereignty is a key requirement, expressed by all member states.

Separated access for animal and human health actors

Within each national environment, access is also segmented by domain. Human health workers and animal health workers only see and report on data related to their respective fields. This ensures secure, targeted use of the platform and supports clean, well-structured datasets.

A simplified and integrated data analysis

The platform not only facilitates data collection but also makes analysis straightforward for both national teams and regional bodies.

National dashboards for sector-specific and cross-sector analysis

Each country using DHIS2 has access to dashboards that enable sector-specific analysis (human or animal health), cross-sector One Health analysis, and monitoring trends and detecting unusual events in near real time.

Regional surveillance through data aggregation

The platform allows for regional surveillance by aggregating national level data, and enabling member states to report additional information of regional interest.

Since the national data collection is based on adapted standard forms, it is possible to aggregate most of the data at the regional level; either directly, or through slight alignments with regional standards. All the aggregation and data transformation happens within the DHIS2 platform, no additional application is needed.

Some countries do not collect certain types of data in a format that can be directly integrated into the regional system.
In these cases:

• data may be collected outside the platform or using a national model that diverges from regional standards,
• a dedicated DHIS2 form is available so they can enter the regionally required data directly at the national level.

These entries are then aggregated with the rest of the regional dataset.

Once harmonized and aggregated, all data feed into regional dashboards, enabling comprehensive epidemiological monitoring and analysis across the Indian Ocean region.

Use case animal health surveillance in Madagascar

Here is a clear example of how the system supports real-world animal health surveillance in Madagascar.

When sick animals are reported:

• The sanitary authorities send a veterinarian to investigate the case. Veterinarians are assigned to a given region of the country so that they can build up a relationship with the farmers. 
• Once on site, they gather basic information about the case, such as species affected, number of infected animals, and number of deaths.
• They establish a preliminary diagnosis based on a clinical symptom table. For priority diseases under heightened vigilance—PPR, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Avian Influenza, PPCB, and BSE—active zero reporting applies.If a disease is not explicitly ruled out, an alert is automatically sent to surveillance authorities.
• The veterinarian has the opportunity to document the eventual collection of a sample (the result of the test is then added to the form at a later time) and an eventual drug prescription.

Thanks to automated alerts and dynamic dashboards, surveillance authorities can detect, respond to, and prevent potential outbreaks in near real time.This rapid feedback loop strengthens national response capacities and contributes to the region’s collective health security.

Learn more about Bluesquare DHIS2 hosting & expertise : https://www.bluesquarehub.com/products/service-subscriptions/dhis2/  

Learn more about the SEGA-One Health network: https://segaonehealth.org/