{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T09:08:09Z","timestamp":1779872889257,"version":"3.53.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.166773.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,23]],"date-time":"2026-02-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771804800000}}],"reference-count":20,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,23]],"date-time":"2026-02-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771804800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000030","name":"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000030","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["f1000research.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["F1000Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>Background Nigeria has strategically invested in digital health to achieve HIV\/AIDS epidemic control, meet SDG health targets, and advance towards UHC. Despite progress, challenges persist. This paper details Nigeria\u2019s commitment, in collaboration with PEPFAR, CDC, and other agencies, to address Health Information System (HIS) challenges through participation in the Intergovernmental Learning Exchange to Advance Data-Driven Decision Making (I-LEAD) programme. Methods The I-LEAD programme followed a three-phase approach: 1) conducted an expedited Informatics-Savvy Health Organisation (ISHO) assessment to identify critical national HIS challenges; 2) enhanced informatics capabilities of selected Nigerian delegates, including a purpose-fit session, Bring Your Own Difficult Decision (BYODD), involving SMEs to collaboratively refine, contextualise and guide the localised development of actionable solutions for national HIS challenges; and 3) outlined the nation\u2019s approach to implementing the HIS solutions Results The expedited ISHO assessment identified five HIS challenges: governance, interoperability, data security, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) centralisation, and funding. Participating in the I-LEAD programme strengthened Nigeria\u2019s leadership technical capacity in informatics, particularly in strategic visioning and planning, with the BYODD sessions resulting in the collaborative development of localised solutions to address the five HIS challenges. In the post-I-LEAD phase, efforts focused on two of the HIS solutions. These activities are 1) improving data quality through harmonisation of value data sets, and 2) decentralising I-LEAD learning and building the capacity of Public Health Informatics (PHI) technical groups through progressive levels of Growing Expertise in E-Health Knowledge and Skills (GEEKS) training. These activities were selected because of their potential to deliver the maximum impact within the HIS ecosystem. Conclusion Nigeria\u2019s active participation and commitment through the I-LEAD programme have strengthened its digital health agenda, leveraging health informatics to enhance healthcare delivery and achieve broader health goals. This approach can serve as a model for other developing nations facing similar health informatics hurdles.<\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.166773.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T05:09:09Z","timestamp":1771909749000},"page":"759","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Intergovernmental Learning Exchange to Advance Data-Driven Decision Making: Experiences from Nigeria."],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7327-2870","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Agbonkhese I.","family":"Oaiya","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"FCT Abuja FCT Abuja PATH"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oludare","family":"Onimode","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FCT Abuja FCT Abuja APIN Public Health Initiative\/Public Health Information Surveillance, Systems and Solutions (PHIS3)"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2058-5400","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olaposi","family":"Olatoregun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FCT Abuja FCT Abuja APIN Public Health Initiative\/Public Health Information Surveillance, Systems and Solutions (PHIS3)"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gibril","family":"Gomez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FCT Abuja FCT Abuja APIN Public Health Initiative\/Public Health Information Surveillance, Systems and Solutions (PHIS3)"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bashorun","family":"Adebobola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National HIV\/AIDS, Hepatitis and STIs Control Programme (NASCP) FCT Abuja FCT Abuja Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher","family":"Isokpunwu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Health Planning, Research and Statistics FCT Abuja FCT Abuja Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oladejo","family":"Folasade","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FCT Abuja FCT Abuja Federal Ministry of Women Affairs"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Balogun","family":"Olufunke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FCT Abuja FCT Abuja Nigeria Ministry of Defence"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Herman","family":"Tolentino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chicago Illinois University of Illinois Chicago"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brianna","family":"Musselman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Seattle PATH"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sam","family":"Wambugu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Seattle PATH"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s13312-020-1789-7","article-title":"Global Strategy on Digital Health.","volume":"57","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"467-490","DOI":"10.4324\/9781843146575-59","article-title":"Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.","volume":"16301","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref3","article-title":"National Health ICT Strategic Framework.","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref4","article-title":"Digital Square Global Goods.","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref6","article-title":"Digital Health Atlas 2023."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"8-10","DOI":"10.1186\/s12960-022-00706-3","article-title":"Conceptualizing and implementing a health workforce registry in Nigeria.","volume":"20","author":"S Okoroafor","year":"2022","journal-title":"Hum. 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The following are our responses to the comments raised:  The VSOT framework was not developed during the Nigerian I-LEAD implementation. Rather, it was adopted from established literature and operationalised in practice through the combined use of the I-LEAD and GEEKS programmes. We have clarified this distinction in the revised manuscript. The selection of the delegates was based on a balance between the scope of the HIV\/AIDS programme in Nigeria and institutions involved in HIS governance, planning and implementation. We have expanded this explanation in the methods section to improve transparency. These consultative sessions in the pre-I-LEAD phase were regular meetings to ensure alignment with agreed objectives and to track progress. We have updated the manuscript to include this description.  We have carefully revised the manuscript in line with the feedback provided.","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-759\/v2#referee-comment-15449","order":2,"name":"referee-comment-15449","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"This activity was funded by the U.S Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under \"The Technical Assistance Platform (TAP)\" project through a cooperative agreement. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","order":3,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}