Public health informatics · South Africa

20 years inside the systems where PEPFAR, Global Fund, and Gates Foundation programmes live or die on data.

Analytics, governance, and AI readiness for African programme teams who need more than a dashboard — they need decisions backed by evidence their donors and governments will trust.

DHIS2 PEPFAR / DATIM Global Fund Gates Foundation NDoH · WHO · SANAC IAS 2025 · Kigali
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Thobelani Mfengwana, MBA

Public Health Informatics Practitioner

325 sentinel sites configured

DHIS2 STI Clinical Surveillance — Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Chris Hani

~2 million RDT gap quantified

Procurement analysis adopted in Gates Foundation Grant INV-067199

Adopted by NDoH, WHO & SANAC

Power BI STI cascade dashboards — national policy review tools

R900M procurement managed

Vaccines, pharmaceuticals & medical equipment — Amathole District

IAS Conference 2025 · Kigali — poster presenter

20+

Years in public health data — government, NGO, donor

325

National sentinel sites configured & trained on DHIS2

R900M

Annual procurement budget managed

3

Major donors whose grant reporting this work directly shaped

What this platform offers

Three interconnected offerings

Professional services, practical training, and healthcare intelligence — all focused on one outcome: better decisions from your programme data.

The real problem

What I solve

Most PEPFAR and Global Fund programme teams are not short of data. They are short of the time, skills, and confidence to use it to make decisions.

Common challenges

DHIS2 data is collected but never interrogated beyond the target

Dashboards exist but no one is confident interpreting or acting on them

AI tools are emerging but leadership doesn't know where to start — or what to trust

Donor reports require evidence the team struggles to produce consistently

Supply chain decisions are made without commodity analytics, leading to stockouts

What changes

DHIS2 systems and Power BI dashboards adopted at NDoH, WHO, and SANAC level

Teams that can read, interpret, and act on their own data with confidence

A clear, practical path into AI — grounded in your programme context, without overwhelm

Quantified evidence adopted directly into Gates Foundation and Global Fund grant reporting

Supply chain gap analyses that close the distance between data and procurement decisions

The engagement model

A journey, not a once-off fix

Organisations move through a structured four-stage journey — from building basic data confidence to embedding AI-informed decision-making as a lasting organisational capability. Each stage builds on the last.

1
Senior managers & directors

AI awareness

Helping senior leaders understand what AI is, what it is not, and why it matters for their programmes — without the hype or technical overwhelm. Executive briefing format.

2
M&E officers · data managers · programme coordinators

AI literacy

Practical ability to use AI tools responsibly in day-to-day work — from writing reports and summarising data to interpreting outputs and knowing when not to trust them.

3
Programme teams

Data decision-making

Connecting data and AI outputs to real programme decisions — not just dashboards, but action. Structured analysis and evidence-based planning built into your workflows.

4
Leadership teams

Decision intelligence

Embedding data-driven decision-making as an organisational capability — not a one-off intervention. Systems, culture, and team confidence that outlast the engagement.

AI skills development

AI is arriving in PEPFAR and Global Fund programmes. The question is whether your team has the skills to use it responsibly.

AI skills development is a core part of this practice — introduced at the right pace for your team, grounded in your programme context, and designed to build lasting capability rather than dependency.

Explore AI skills development

Insights & analysis

Healthcare intelligence

Practitioner commentary for African programme leaders — published when available, distributed by newsletter first.

View all articles →
Health systems Coming soon

Why PEPFAR and Global Fund programmes collect excellent data but rarely use it

The gap between data collection and programme decision-making — and what it costs implementing partners.

Analytics Coming soon

Why most healthcare dashboards fail the programme managers who need them

Most dashboards show data. The best ones surface the decision that needs to be made.

Supply chain Coming soon

A stockout is always a data failure before it is a logistics failure

The supply chain analytics gap that no one in PEPFAR commodity management talks about.

AI & data Coming soon

AI is coming to African health programmes — here is an honest assessment

What AI can and cannot do for PEPFAR and Global Fund programme data teams right now.

Get practical healthcare intelligence delivered to your inbox

Every issue: one DHIS2 insight, one M&E mistake to avoid, and one practical tool — for programme data teams across sub-Saharan Africa.

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Views expressed are personal and do not represent any employer or affiliated organisation. All analysis is based on publicly available information.

The difference

Why work with me

What I bring

20+ years in public health programme environments

NDoH, DHIS2, Global Fund, PEPFAR, CHAI — I know the systems, the reporting cycles, and the constraints your data team lives inside.

Analytics applied to real programme data

Power BI, DHIS2, SQL, R, Excel — used on HIV/STI surveillance, ANC commodity planning, and supply chain analytics. Not hypothetical examples.

Practical AI and data governance skills development

Building AI capability in programme teams — accessible, contextualised, and grounded in your actual workflows.

How I work

Programme outcomes, not technical outputs

Every engagement is designed to drive a decision or build a capability — not to demonstrate technical skill for its own sake.

No jargon, no intimidation

Built for programme managers who need results — not a data science lecture. The complexity stays on my side of the table.

Your independence is the goal

I invest in your team's capability — not your organisation's ongoing dependence on external consultants. Every engagement includes knowledge transfer.

DHIS2 configuration & training PEPFAR DATIM reporting Global Fund grant documentation Supply chain analytics Power BI · SQL · R AI readiness & governance IAS 2025 Kigali

Start here

Ready to make your programme data work harder?

Start with a conversation — no obligations, no jargon. We discuss what you are trying to solve and I will tell you honestly what an engagement would look like.