PREDICT project reveals preliminary research findings

25-10-2022

The project entitled “Longitudinal dataset hub for predicting and monitoring COVID-19 evolution in the community and mitigation measures outcomes in Rwanda” (PREDICT project) has revealed preliminary findings of the research which carried out from 2020.

This project aimed at bringing innovative disease monitoring approach building a longitudinal dataset hub for predicting and monitoring COVID-19 evolution in the community and in health facilities (COVID-19 Treatment Centres).
The findings were revealed during a workshop which was organised to share the overall project progress, share the available preliminary results, discuss the project achievement and to elaborate plans and strategies for next steps towards end-project delivery.

UR Ag. Vice Chancellor Dr. Didas Kayihura Muganga

Officiating the workshop, UR Ag. Vice Chancellor Dr. Didas Kayihura Muganga said this was the opportunity to “re-evaluate our methodologies and work towards adopting approaches that will ensure that we successfully complete the project”.
He added, “This project is one of the innovative projects that is hosted by UR which came to add new knowledge on the evolution and dynamics of COVID-19 in Rwanda by highlighting the trends, forecasts and its characteristics”.

Prof. Marc Twagirumukiza, the project Investigator, highlighted that the research generated information about different factors underpinning the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The research showed for instance at which level the population complied with the established measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. This information will help policy makers know how to improve the measures in the future outbreaks”, he noted.

During the implementation of the project, several activities have been successfully accomplished, such as : data collection of longitudinal community surveys, hospital data scanning, common data model infrastructure development, effective stakeholders’ engagement and the analysis of preliminary data.

The project implementation brought together several partners including the University of Rwanda (UR), Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) under the Ministry of Health Rwanda, the Ghent University-Belgium (UGent), the private technology company EdenceHealth NV (Belgium) and the Regional Alliance for Sustainable Development (RASD) Rwanda, a non-governmental Organisation.