## Session Description

How can we build a digital solution capable of supporting disease surveillance in a region where connectivity is intermittent, data are fragmented, and operational needs are urgent?

In this session, I will share practical experience from the design of an integrated disease surveillance solution using DHIS2 in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a pilot focused on Mpox in Uvira.

The project aims to transform data collected in the field into actionable information for early detection, situational awareness, and decision-making. The solution combines DHIS2, its REST API, ODK/Kobo, web and mobile interfaces, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, geolocation, dashboards, and alert mechanisms.

I will demonstrate how these different components can be connected to build an architecture adapted to low-connectivity environments, including:

* Digital field data collection;
* Operation under limited or intermittent connectivity;
* Data synchronization;
* Integration with DHIS2 through its REST API;
* Structuring and management of epidemiological data;
* Geolocation and spatial analysis;
* Dashboards for monitoring health events;
* Alert generation and escalation;
* Separation of data collection, storage, processing, and visualization layers.

The presentation will also address real-world technical challenges encountered during the development and implementation process, including data quality, entity identification, synchronization, user permissions, performance, API integration, and the constraints of field environments.

The goal is not simply to present DHIS2, but to demonstrate how developers can leverage an existing open-source ecosystem to design and build digital solutions that respond to real-world challenges in Africa.

## What Participants Will Learn

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the architecture of a DHIS2-based disease surveillance solution.
2. Identify the key components required to connect mobile and web applications with DHIS2.
3. Understand the fundamental principles of integrating applications with the DHIS2 REST API.
4. Design data collection and synchronization strategies suitable for low-connectivity environments.
5. Identify the main technical challenges involved in moving from a prototype to a field-ready digital solution.
6. Understand how PostgreSQL/PostGIS and geographic data can support digital health systems and spatial analysis.
7. Explore how similar architectures can be adapted to address other local and sector-specific challenges.

## Proposed Session Structure

### 1. The Problem — 5 minutes

An overview of the disease surveillance context in South Kivu and the operational constraints encountered in the field.

### 2. The Architecture — 7 minutes

Presentation of the overall architecture:

**Field application/data collection → API → DHIS2 → database → analytics → dashboards and alerts**

The session will explain the role of each component and how they interact.

### 3. Technical Demonstration — 10 minutes

A practical demonstration of a data flow from field collection to visualization in DHIS2, including the mechanisms used to integrate external applications with the DHIS2 ecosystem.

### 4. Real-World Challenges — 5 minutes

A practical discussion of connectivity constraints, data quality, user permissions, API integration, synchronization, and other challenges encountered during development and implementation.

### 5. Lessons Learned — 3 minutes

Key principles that developers can reuse when designing resilient digital solutions for other sectors and contexts.

## Why This Session?

Developers often build applications assuming that connectivity, infrastructure, and technical resources will always be available.

In many African contexts, this assumption does not hold.

This experience demonstrates a different approach: start from a real-world problem, leverage existing open-source technologies, design with an offline-first mindset, create interfaces adapted to field users, and build an architecture capable of evolving over time.

The session therefore aims to share a practical local development and technology-integration experience while demonstrating that complex digital solutions can be designed, developed, and tested from the Kivu region to address concrete challenges.

It also highlights the potential of combining open-source health information systems, modern software development, mobile technologies, geospatial data, and interoperability standards to strengthen digital public health infrastructure.

## Technologies

* **DHIS2**
* **DHIS2 Tracker**
* **DHIS2 Web API / REST API**
* **ODK / KoboCollect**
* **PostgreSQL**
* **PostGIS**
* **Docker**
* **PHP / Laravel**
* **Flutter**
* **Vue.js**
* **QGIS**
* **Power BI**

**Target audience:** Developers, software engineers, digital health professionals, DHIS2 implementers, data managers, public health practitioners, researchers, and students interested in building resilient digital solutions for low-resource environments.

**Technical level:** Intermediate to advanced. Participants should have a basic understanding of APIs, databases, web/mobile applications, or health information systems. No prior DHIS2 expertise is required.

**Preferred duration:** 30 minutes, including a practical technical demonstration and Q&A.

**Technical requirements:** A projector/screen and reliable internet connection for the live demonstration, although the session will also be prepared to run with locally available demo data in case of connectivity issues.

**Demo format:** Live demonstration of a field data collection workflow, synchronization process, DHIS2 REST API integration, data visualization, and alert generation.

**First public delivery:** This session is intended as a first public presentation of the experience and architecture developed around the South Kivu disease surveillance pilot, with a focus on Mpox surveillance in Uvira.

**Geographic context:** South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with lessons applicable to other low-connectivity and resource-constrained settings.

**Languages:** English presentation. Technical terminology may reference DHIS2 documentation and open-source technologies.

**Session format:** Practical case study combining technical architecture, lessons learned, and live demonstration rather than a purely theoretical presentation.