Fiji: ADP collaborates with WHO and Fiji MoH on improving archiving and access to health research data (July 2014)

The public health research community in Fiji was recently introduced to the basic features of the Nesstar Metadata Publisher and the National Data Archive (NADA).  The NADA will serve as the platform for setting up a proposed national public health microdata repository.  The presentation was made during the half-day national workshop on establishing an online data repository. The workshop was held in Suva on 04 July 2014 and was organized by the Ministry of Health (MoH).  The World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO WPRO), led by Dr Manju Rani – Senior Technical Officer for Health Research - assisted the MoH in developing the microdata repository by advocating for a draft data sharing policy which would require researchers to deposit a complete set of the microdata to MoH and share this online to the public “if data are deemed to be of long-term and wider value”.  The workshop was attended by staff of the MoH, the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FIBOS), the National Food and Nutrition Centre (NFNC), the Fiji National University (FNU), and the Office of the WHO Representative in the South Pacific (WHO-SP).

The MoH Division of Health Information, Research and Analysis (DHIRA) is committed to continue the development of the repository after the workshop .

The mission to Fiji is hoped to be followed by more missions in collaboration with WHO WPRO with other countries’ ministries of health and develop the capacity of these to document and archive microdata produced from health research and disseminate through an online repository.