A FAIR Health Information System: Case Study of the Virus Outbreak Data Network (VODAN)-Africa

VODAN Africa has pioneered FAIR-Data Science for clinical patient and science data on COVID prevalence in nine countries in Africa. The concept is based on data visiting of data held in residence, and/or with strict data ownership controls. A return of data benefits to point of care is an explicit part of the model. The technical execution is based on data visiting of distributed data over the internet. The data is produced as both human and machine-readable instances. A proof of concept was realised in September 2020 and a Minimal Viable Product will be tested in September 2021. The approach resolved critical issues of data management in view of GDPR and the need for increased data protection in Africa which has suffered from data extraction, including in relation to health data. The research is a project if the Virus Outbreak data Network (VODAN) - Africa and Asia. It is coordinated by Kampala International University. It received seed funding from the Philips Foundation and support from the Dutch Development Bank, Philips Foundation, Cordaid and the Go-FAIR Foundation.