For a health facility in northern Togo, effective analysis and use of routine surveillance data can mean the difference between identifying a rise in malaria cases early or only recognizing it once wards are full and children present with severe disease. For malaria programmes across Africa, the ability of health workers to understand and act on data directly shapes who receives timely care.
Yet across malaria programmes in the region, health workers are increasingly expected to analyse trends and guide responses using routine data, often with limited access to advanced, practice-oriented training that reflects their language, context and analytical needs. When learning is not accessible or contextualised, data may be collected but not fully used for decision-making.
To address this, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Malaria: Harnessing the power of routine health facility data course, and made it available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese on the WHO Academy online learning platform as part of a blended learning programme. Led by Dr Deepa Pindolia, the course was designed from the outset with localization as a core principle, recognizing that data analysis is already complex, and learning it in a second or third language is not effective.
For Dr Atekpe Payakissim Somiabalo, National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) Coordinator in Togo, providing the training in French was critical. “The main priority is training operational staff in a language they know so that everyone understands the importance of the data collected for decisionmaking.” According to the NMCP, malaria remains the leading cause of illness in Togo, accounting for 30% of outpatient consultations, 9% of hospitalizations, more than 2.18 million cases and 993 deaths in 2024.
When asked if he would recommend the course to colleagues working on malaria elimination, Dr Somiabalo was emphatic. “Yes, yes and yes. Any effective intervention to combat a given disease is based on a better surveillance system. We need to develop contextualized operational action plans to solve the problems identified and improve coverage and performance indicators.”
In Senegal, Mr Médoune Ndiop, a specialist in monitoring, evaluation and surveillance within the NMCP (2002-2025) and co-chair of its working group (2018-2024), shares this observation on the importance of localized, contextualized and accessible learning for health-care workers at different levels of the health system. “It increases participants' understanding and ensures they have a better grasp of concepts,” he noted. “The use of the local official language facilitates interactions with participants, especially in analysis and interpretation exercises.”
Thibaud de Chevigny, malaria expert and facilitator of the course, has witnessed this transformation across Africa. After more than a decade supporting malaria programmes in the region, he believes localization is not optional – it is foundational. “Translation is absolutely essential, because most subnational programme teams and health information officers in Africa don’t work in English,” he emphasized. “When people can learn in their own language, the concepts are clearer, the training feels more inclusive and it also creates more opportunity to cascade the learning.”
For de Chevigny, all training should be fully localized and adapted to the context. “Beyond translation, the real impact comes when the course is localized to reflect each country’s context. I’ve seen how participants become much more engaged when we use local epidemiological data or case studies. Suddenly the discussions shift from theory to their daily reality.”
This approach is critical in a region that carries the overwhelming share of the global malaria burden. According to the World malaria report 2025, 94% of malaria cases globally occurred in the WHO African Region in 2024. Of the 610 000 malaria deaths, 95% were in the WHO African Region and three‑quarters of those were among children under the age of five.
As de Chevigny highlights, routine surveillance is the backbone of effective malaria control, especially in an era of growing insecticide and drug resistance, climate change and decreased funding, making data-driven decision-making more critical than ever. “My main hope is that health-care workers come away with the confidence to use surveillance data as a powerful decision-making tool in their daily work. I want them to leave the course knowing that their role at the frontline is central to reducing malaria’s burden, and that they are equipped with both the knowledge and the practical skills to make a tangible difference.”
