Digital Innovation in Pandemic Control
In an era of rising pandemic threats, strong immunization systems are only as effective as the digital tools that support them.
Countries face significant challenges when building digital immunization solutions, especially during pandemics. Fragmented systems prevent secure, interoperable data exchange, while limited resources make it difficult for local stakeholders to maintain and adapt these systems to meet evolving health needs.
From 2022 to 2025, the Digital Innovation in Pandemic Control (DIPC) project—a partnership between Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Digital Square at PATH—has been working to bridge these gaps. Collaborating with ministries of health in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania, the project developed and deployed digital tools that are both nationally scalable and interoperable, laying the groundwork for more responsive and sustainable immunization systems.
Countries
Ghana
The team partnered with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to strengthen Ghana’s digital immunization ecosystem. Recognizing the challenges of fragmented, non-interoperable systems, the DIPC project team and GHS conducted a comprehensive mapping of digital tools supporting immunization, identifying key gaps and priorities for national scale-up.
DIPC project pillars in Ghana:
1. Enhancing the DHIS2 E-Tracker's Child Health Module.
2. Building health care worker capacity.
3. Supporting interoperability.
4. Advancing technical readiness for TB data verification.
Countries
Malawi
The team worked closely with the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH), including the Digital Health Division (DHD) and Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), to strengthen Malawi’s digital immunization ecosystem. Recognizing the challenges of fragmented, non-interoperable systems, the DIPC team and MOH conducted a comprehensive ecosystem mapping of digital tools supporting immunization, identifying key gaps and priorities for national scale-up.
DIPC Project Pillars in Malawi:
1. Localizing the Digital Adaptation Kit for Immunization (DAK)
2. Developing and deploying the MaHIS Electronic Immunization
3. Strengthening health care worker capacity
Countries
Tanzania
The team worked closely with the Tanzania Ministry of Health (MOH), the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG), and other partners to strengthen Tanzania’s digital immunization ecosystem. In response to fragmented systems and pandemic-era digital expansion, the DIPC team supported ecosystem mapping and stakeholder engagement to identify gaps and priorities for sustainable scale-up.
DIPC Project Pillars in Tanzania:
1. Localizing the Digital Adaptation Kit for Immunization (DAK)
2. Enhancing the GOTHOMIS Immunization Module
3. Strengthening local expertise in FHIR3.
This playbook provides a practical roadmap to support Ghana’s onboarding into the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN), enabling secure and interoperable verification of digital health certificates across borders. Structured around five strategic “plays,” it outlines the governance, technical, operational, and legal actions required to issue and verify trusted verifiable digital health certificates (VDHCs) while maintaining national data sovereignty. While tailored to Ghana, the approach is designed for adaptation by other countries.
The Ghana Digital Adaptation Kit for Tuberculosis translates WHO tuberculosis guidelines into localized digital requirements aligned with Ghana’s national TB policies and health information systems. It defines workflows, data elements, decision‑support logic, indicators, and system requirements to guide the design, implementation, and strengthening of digital TB tracking and decision‑support systems in Ghana.
This paper presents a comparative analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO) Immunization Digital Adaptation Kit and country‑localized versions developed in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania through the Digital Innovation in Pandemic Control (DIPC) project. It examines areas of alignment and divergence across key DAK components and documents lessons learned for adapting global digital health standards to national policies, workflows, and system maturity.
This worksheet provides a structured, component‑by‑component comparison of the WHO Immunization Digital Adaptation Kit and localized DAKs in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania. It supports transparent analysis of alignment, variation, and country‑specific extensions across personas, workflows, data elements, decision support, indicators, and system requirements, serving as a practical reference for digital health planning and localization efforts.
Scaling the use of digital tools for vaccination planning, deployment, and monitoring. Learn more about the DIPC project.
Learn more about the DIPC project’s efforts to develop localized Digital Application Kits (DAKs) for each country in line with the WHO Digital Adaptation Kit for Immunization
Access reports, fact sheets, videos, and other resources for our work in Ghana.
Access reports, fact sheets, videos, and other resources for our work in Malawi.
Access reports, fact sheets, videos, and other resources for our work in Tanzania.
Learn more about the DIPC project through our video playlist.