FAO Ethiopia and HISP Centre enter agreement to establish DHIS2 for Animal Health Surveillance

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Ethiopia and the HISP Centre at the University of Oslo (HISP UiO) have signed a new agreement to implement DHIS2 for animal health surveillance data management for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

Under this agreement, HISP UiO will collaborate with FAO Ethiopia, national stakeholders, and local implementing partner HISP Ethiopia to configure DHIS2 for Ethiopia’s veterinary services, migrating from the existing systems to a scalable, interoperable, and secure national platform that supports real-time reporting, analytics, and rapid response.

What this collaboration will deliver

• National DHIS2 deployment for animal health hosted by the MoA, tailored to Ethiopia’s surveillance standards and workflows.
• Multi-channel, offline-capable data capture (web and Android/iOS) across veterinary clinics, animal health posts, regional labs, quarantine sites, farms, wildlife surveillance, and slaughterhouses.
• Geospatial analytics & dashboards for outbreak detection, mapping, scorecards, and routine reporting (monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, annual).
• Role-based access and end-to-end data security with validation at district, zonal, regional, and national levels, backups, and high-availability considerations.
• Interoperability for One Health and alignment with international reporting standards, including options for data exchange with public health systems.
• Capacity building & documentation, including Training of Trainers for 25 core focal points, hands-on training for MoA IT staff, user guides, and ongoing mentorship during rollout.

Why DHIS2 for animal health?

DHIS2 is an open-source, configurable platform used by ministries in more than 80 countries to strengthen surveillance and routine information systems. Its flexible metadata model, robust security, offline data entry, and powerful analytics make it well suited to Ethiopia’s goals for timely outbreak detection, coordinated response, and performance monitoring across all administrative levels.

Ethiopia already operates one of the world’s largest DHIS2-based health management information systems. Since 2017, the Ministry of Health has used DHIS2 to collect data from more than 30,000 health facilities, supporting evidence-based decisions on budgeting, capacity, and service delivery for a population of over 120 million people. This established DHIS2 infrastructure and national experience in health data management will provide a strong foundation for expanding DHIS2 to the animal health sector under this new collaboration.

Background

FAO Ethiopia supports efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security within the country, working with partners in agricultural development, including animal health and One Health initiatives. FAO’s Emergency Prevention System (EMPRES) supports efforts to strengthen animal health surveillance worldwide, and can provide technical guidance to countries moving towards digital surveillance systems.

The HISP Centre at UiO is the global steward of the DHIS2 platform, partnering with governments, UN agencies, and the HISP network to deliver sustainable, country-owned digital public goods for health and related sectors. HISP Ethiopia, a member of the global HISP network, serves as a local implementing partner supporting customization, deployment and capacity building efforts on DHIS2-based systems in Ethiopia.

For media inquiries, please contact comms@dhis2.org.