About 50 data specialists, health researchers, clinicians and staff from non-governmental organizations have participated in a training on Public Health Data Analysis (PHDA) organized by the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE) at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN).
The five-day training featured presentations and practical sessions on basic statistics and data exploration, probability and hypothesis testing, correlation and regression, epidemiological study design, and survey methods.
IRCE Data Unit Lead, Dr. Nifarta Andrew said that, the motivation behind this new course and its implementation is to enhance capacity in performing and interpreting analysis of public health data to address program and research gaps and inform health policy.
Facilitators were drawn from a team of biostatisticians and epidemiologists at IRCE in IHVN and affiliates of IRCE from the Tampere University in Finland.
Participants lauded the training as hands on and impactful. Ifeanyi Williams, a participant from Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (CCFN) said that the training was phenomenal.
“It was 100% value for money, I learned a lot and will recommend this because it teaches skills needed in the real world.”
Another participant, Dr. Abiodun Ifediola from Data Metrics Research Limited, noted that the training was well packed with top-notch delivery.
“The delivery is equal to what you’ll get anywhere in the world – I’ve gone to a lot of certification trainings outside of the country. As the Principal Investigator for a good number of evaluations in the country, I am responsible for coordinating data managers in the field. With the sessions on the first day, I was immediately able to import data and use the STATA platform,” she said.
Training Facilitator, Dr. Andrew revealed that plans are underway for another basic course this year and an advanced course to build on the skills learned during the introductory course.
