Brand Dirk, Singh Jerome A, Nienaber McKay Annelize G, Cengiz Nezerith, Moodley Keymanthri
School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
S Afr J Sci. 2022 Nov-Dec;118(11-12). doi: 10.17159/sajs.2022/13892. Epub 2022 Oct 26.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has captured the attention of the global community since the end of 2019, deadly health pandemics are not new to Africa. Tuberculosis (TB), malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) count amongst other serious diseases that have had a catastrophic impact on the African continent. Effective responses to such pandemics require high-quality, comprehensive data sets that can inform policymaking and enhance healthcare decision-making. While data is driving the information economy in the 21st century, the scarcity in Africa of carefully curated, large epidemiologic data sources and analytical capacity to rapidly identify and understand emerging infectious diseases poses a major challenge to mounting a time-sensitive response to unfolding pandemics. Data access, sharing and transfer between countries are crucial to effectively managing current and future health pandemics. Data access and sharing, however, raises questions about personal privacy, the adequacy of governance mechanisms to regulate cross-border data flows, and ethical issues relating to the collection and use of personal data in the interests of public health. Sub-Saharan Africa's most research-intensive countries are characterised by diverse data management and privacy governance frameworks. Such regional variance can impede time-sensitive data sharing and highlights the need for urgent governance reforms to facilitate effective decision-making in response to rapidly evolving public health threats.
自2019年底以来，新冠疫情一直吸引着全球的关注，但致命的健康大流行对非洲来说并不陌生。结核病、疟疾和人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）等其他严重疾病对非洲大陆造成了灾难性影响。有效应对此类大流行需要高质量、全面的数据集，以指导政策制定并加强医疗保健决策。虽然数据正在推动21世纪的信息经济，但非洲缺乏经过精心整理的大型流行病学数据源以及快速识别和理解新出现传染病的分析能力，这对及时应对不断演变的大流行构成了重大挑战。国家之间的数据获取、共享和转移对于有效管理当前及未来的健康大流行至关重要。然而，数据获取和共享引发了有关个人隐私、监管跨境数据流动的治理机制是否充分以及为了公共卫生利益收集和使用个人数据的伦理问题。撒哈拉以南非洲地区研究最为密集的国家具有多样化的数据管理和隐私治理框架。这种地区差异可能会阻碍对时间敏感的数据共享，并凸显出迫切需要进行治理改革，以促进在应对迅速演变的公共卫生威胁时做出有效决策。
