The Federal Government has taken a significant step towards digitising and transforming its healthcare sector by appointing a cybersecurity and digital transformation expert, Dr. Ibrahim Waziri Jr., to a 20-member Implementation Committee of the Nigeria Digital in Health Initiative (NDHI).
The initiative aims to digitalise health records, enhance patient experiences, improve data protection, and achieve better health outcomes nationwide.
Dr. Ibrahim Waziri Jr. is an accomplished professional with over a decade of experience in ensuring the secure implementation of digital transformation initiatives, cybersecurity engineering, cyber governance, and risk and compliance within the United States’ federal government.
Waziri Jr. currently works as a senior cybersecurity program manager within the U.S. government mission engineering team at Microsoft, where he leads the secure development of products used by U.S. national security agencies. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Cybersecurity at Marymount University. Dr. Waziri Jr. has worked with other institutions such as the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), The global security company RSA, Apogee Research – a U.S defense contractor, and the renowned consulting firm, Deloitte where he led the Cybersecurity Engineering, Governance, Risk and Compliance efforts of multiple U.S Federal Agencies’ Digital Transformation initiatives – including within the U.S Health Sector – specifically, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in Washington, DC.
Dr. Waziri Jr’s experience in delivering Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity Engineering, Cloud Deployment, and Cyber Governance and Regulatory Implementations for an advanced nation like the U.S makes him the perfect fit to provide authoritative guidance on how Nigeria should secure its efforts to digitize and transform its federal government sectors.
The inclusion of a competent cybersecurity expert with a record of accomplishment like Dr. Waziri Jr., in Nigeria’s Digital Health efforts, shows the seriousness and willingness of the Nigerian government to protect its citizens’ health data and ensure the sustainability of its Digital Health Transformation efforts.
At the inauguration ceremony, which took place at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, highlighted the importance of the initiative as a milestone in transforming Nigeria’s health sector.
Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, will lead the committee in driving significant changes in data management within healthcare facilities.
According to him, “the digitalization of health records will improve patients’ experience, protect patients’ data, and improve patients’ health outcomes. Using this platform will improve the work life of health providers and aid policymakers and managers in improving their effectiveness and efficiency and holding other stakeholders accountable.”
Alausa said what existed before now was a lack of uniform data collection and management that has presented the Nigerian healthcare system with numerous challenges. It has limited the development of the health industry, weakened our decision-making, and has resulted in inefficient use of resources. This has made it challenging to comprehensively view the healthcare environment.
“Our healthcare system further suffers from data fragmentation as only a small number of private institutions and federal institutions use Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Electronic Health Record (EHR) platforms to keep track of patient data, promote research, provide treatment, and manage operations and resources. While the majority still rely on rudimentary paper-based methods.”
He said that despite the existence of these few EMR/EHR platforms, none are standardized to integrate, collect, and manage data across institutions or built to succinctly share patient data in real-time. This has led to significant quality gaps in the healthcare system. Therefore, the transition to a digital health infrastructure is not merely a choice but a necessity to revolutionize healthcare delivery in our country.
“The Digital in Health Initiative will show that digitalization in health goes beyond EMR/HER platforms. We want to rebuild and reposition the digital health environment to include Data gathering; Data repository; Data servicing and Service regulation. The platform so created would be such that data can be easily validated and we shall start with an EMR system which is just a part of the overall digital ecosystem, Dr. Alausa stated.”
Other members of the committee, which is chaired by Dr Alausa, include Dr. Edem Adzogenu – Vice Chair; Dr. Ajuwon Adejuwon; Dr. Chris. Osa. Isokpunwu; Dr. Gbenga Ijaodola; Dr. Jimoh Salaudeen; Bodunde O. Onifade; Mr Idris Albankudi; Mr Lanre Lamina; Dr. Muyi Aina; Tajudeen Ibrahim and Kelechi Ohiri. Others are Dr. Lolade Adeyemi; Mr. Bode Pedro; John Adebisi; Abubakar Yusuf; Dr. Oyebanji Filani; Robert Cryer and Leke Ojewale.