Informational Meeting-Joel Palfart, Niger

Owned by Rebecca Alban (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 26, 2020
3 min read

Date August 25, 2020

OpenLMIS participants: Wesley Brown, Rebecca Alban (Unlicensed), Olivier Defawe (VillageReach), Sierra Petrosky (Unlicensed)

Joel Palfart: Independent consultant with UNICEF for Niger. 

Background: Joel is conducting a preliminary study for an eLMIS for the EPI of Niger. Initially his goal is to define EPI requirements for eLMIS and to learn about eLMIS solutions. He sent this document with specific questions in advance (which I believe he is using to conduct a landscape analysis of possible solutions)

Questions on OpenLMIS_Niger (002).docx


(Internal) points to make during the presentation:

  • what makes openlmis different/better than other systems
  • what it can do for EPI
  • mention global fund endorsement 


Joel is based in Copenhagen, is an epidemiologist, and works with UNICEF in Niger. He is currently working mostly remote (since spring) as travel is not very practical.

He thinks the current system in Niger has a lot of weaknesses and he notices a lot of errors in the data that comes in. 

He has already done requirements gathering and is now in the advocation stage with UNICEF Niger and MOH. He is charged with having more conversations with organizations and companies that can offer eLMIS systems. He has already sent a form to Rebecca for the OpenLMIS team to fill in to further help him understand if this could be the right fit. He's being very intentional about what solution to choose, as it can effect the public health system in Niger for a long time, so he expects we will have several conversations in the near future while he is in this phase.

He has seen the French demo videos for OpenLMIS and has explored the website and the documents available there, but has not browsed the demo site himself. 


Questions/Comments: 

- allocation/requisition modes, 

- offline possibilities, 

- hosting, 

- French speaking countries using OpenLMIS for EPI,

- eLMIS dimensioning for Niger (number of levels) and costs. 


? - If the connection is weak, can OpenLMIS still work at the sites?

R - Yes there is an offline functionality so users can still access it and then once online it goes to the database


? - For the National Health System, can it all connect to OpenLMIS at different levels, or is it that the health centers just connect to each other? Can it connect to multiple systems?

R - It's highly configurable, can be customized by country needs, and can exchange data at different levels of the health system. It is interoperable with many other systems (ex: DHIS2 "push")


? - What are the data indicators currently possible to be exchanged from OLMIS to DHIS2?

R - Tanzania ex: Stock data, malaria data (estimates)


? - Is the DHIS2 interoperability automatic or manual?

R - Currently sort of manual. There is an automated way to do it, but haven't incorporated that into the Core, so right now someone makes the decision to transfer the data. 


? - Can you edit the medications that show up in the system? (i.e go in and add specific lot codes available where you are?)

R - Yes. This is all configurable and the administrator can alter.


? - And can these alterations happen at any level you want? (i.e. can we assign someone at a district level to alter or approve, or someone at the health center level?)
R - Yes, we can assign utilizers vs. approvers at any level and group data as wanted


? - What is VillageReach exactly?

R - A nonprofit organization based in Seattle but working all over the world (throughout Africa, Pakistan...). We have 4 offices: Seattle, Mozambique, Malawi, DRC. We also work with a lot of organizations around the world in 'partner countries' where we don't necessarily have an office but our partners do (i.e. PATH). We are a partner of OpenLMIS and work a lot with donors and other partners on this solution, and both help develop the software and do implementations. 


? - Can we please share the GAVI document comparing solutions and recommending OpenLMIS

R - Yes.


? - Offline functionality is very important for us. Can you confirm that this piece will work well in Niger's context? (Especially for stock management).

R - Offline functionality works for the requisition piece. We are working on the stock management offline functionality and this should be ready initially in ~1.5 months and officially by the end of the year. 


? - Is there another French speaking country nearby that we can talk to that has implemented this?

R - Cote d'Ivoire could be a good example. Mozambique/SELV would be better.


? - Please confirm that for the stock management piece there is currently no forecasting?

R - Correct. You can use ideal stock amounts, and we are looking at working more on forecasting but have not quite yet. 


Next steps:




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