Consultant, RED/QIP Strategy | UNICEF, South Africa Jun 2026 – Present
Inception, Planning & Governance
- Led the inception phase of the consultancy, developing a detailed workplan with a priority facility visit schedule and coordinating regular consultations with UNICEF and the district health team.
- Updated the District RED Microplan and associated RED tools to reflect current facility and provincial priorities.
- Finalised the roles and responsibilities of the district core team to establish clear accountability for the RED strategy.
- Contributed to the development of a standard operating procedure for RED and QIP implementation, submitting process documentation at each phase of the project.
Facility-Level RED Microplans & Quality Improvement
- Supporting six priority facilities to develop and implement RED microplans that embed quality improvement and human-centred design principles.
- Leading facility situational analyses and identification of missed populations to inform defaulter tracing plans.
- Guiding facility core teams, including outreach team leaders and community health workers, to draft end-user personas and agree priority end users for the immunisation programme.
- Establishing outreach data capture tools at facility level and clarifying data reporting pathways from outreach activities back into facility records.
Community Engagement, Defaulter Tracing & Reporting
- Coordinating community engagement to identify missed populations and co-create solutions with facility and community stakeholders to address barriers to immunisation uptake.
- Maintaining documented records of facility visits and health worker engagement to support ongoing monitoring of the RED strategy.
- Tracking children traced and vaccinated on a monthly basis as part of the defaulter tracing process.
- Responsible for producing the final district implementation report, a consolidated SOP for RED and QIP implementation, and a debrief and handover presentation to district and provincial stakeholders at project close.
National Professional Officer – Immunization Strategic Information | World Health Organization (WHO), South Africa Aug 2018 – Apr 2026
Technical Support & Coordination
- Supported the Department of Health on vaccine-preventable disease eradication and elimination initiatives to strengthen national immunisation programmes.
- Collaborated with the Department of Health and partners on epidemiological investigations of VPD outbreaks to ensure rapid detection and coordinated response.
- Contributed to EPI activities such as mass vaccination campaigns, catch-up campaigns, and new vaccine introductions to expand population protection.
- Maintained collaboration with EPI officials at all levels of government to promote coordinated action and accountability.
- Drafted national VPD immunisation strategies and operational guidelines to provide strategic direction and ensure standardised implementation across provinces.
Supervision & Training
- Conducted supportive supervision of facilities providing immunisation and surveillance services to improve adherence to standards and service delivery.
- Delivered training on immunisation and surveillance data management to build staff capacity in accurate data collection, analysis, and reporting.
- Promoted adherence to the DHMIS policy framework for immunisation and surveillance data to ensure consistency and reliability in reporting.
Data Management & Quality
- Cleaned, validated, and analysed large health programme datasets to support national surveillance, immunisation, and disease monitoring priorities.
- Led national and programme-specific data quality reviews, checking the accuracy and completeness of large surveillance datasets against defined standards and procedures.
- Improved data quality by identifying inconsistencies, missing values, and reporting gaps across multiple health information systems.
- Developed new immunisation and surveillance indicators to enhance monitoring and programme evaluation.
- Integrated all EPI data elements into the National Indicator Data Set (NIDS), improving data structures and consistency in national reporting.
- Harmonised case-based and laboratory surveillance datasets, reducing duplication and creating a single, consistent source of surveillance information.
- Maintained clear documentation of metrics, business logic, and data definitions to support consistent, reproducible reporting.
- Engaged stakeholders and STATS-SA on immunisation and surveillance denominators to ensure accurate population figures for coverage monitoring.
- Developed national surveillance plans and guidelines that defined the indicators and data to be monitored, set performance thresholds from global elimination and eradication standards, and assigned roles and responsibilities across the surveillance system, including surveillance data management.
- Conducted central review of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and measles surveillance data across facilities nationally, monitoring performance against defined surveillance targets: a non-polio AFP detection rate of at least 2 per 100,000 children under 15 years, stool adequacy above 80%, a non-measles non-rubella febrile rash illness rate of at least 2 per 100,000, and a measles incidence rate below 1 per 1,000,000.
- Identified and escalated performance and data quality issues to provincial, district, and facility level, and compiled the findings into quality reports for stakeholders.
Data Analysis, Innovation & Digital Tools
- Analysed routine immunisation and surveillance data using SQL, Power BI, Epi Info, STATA, and Excel to provide evidence for programme planning and policy decisions.
- Developed and maintained automated Power BI dashboards (star schema, DAX) to deliver timely insights into immunisation and surveillance performance.
- Automated weekly, monthly, and quarterly analysis with scripts to streamline reporting and reduce manual workload.
- Validated outputs by cross-checking results across different software to ensure accuracy and reliability.
- Applied GIS analysis using QGIS, ArcGIS, and Epi Info (shapefiles and coordinate mapping) to map coverage rates, outbreak hotspots, and population density to guide targeted interventions.
- Introduced digital data collection tools (ODK and Go.Data) to modernise surveillance systems and improve timeliness of reporting.
- Created and configured forms for digital tools to enable efficient and standardised data capture.
- Managed access to Excel-based immunisation and surveillance databases to ensure secure and organised data management, and used Microsoft SharePoint as the team's central document management and collaboration platform with rights-based access to shared programme documentation.
Reporting & Global Engagement
- Produced quarterly polio risk assessments and annual measles risk assessments to strengthen preparedness for vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks.
- Translated complex health data into clear findings for technical and non-technical audiences, including national and international partners.
- Led analysis for ARCC polio eradication reports and WHO/UNICEF joint reporting forms to ensure South Africa's contributions were reflected in global monitoring.
- Conducted ad hoc analyses to provide timely evidence for programme needs, supporting evidence-based decision-making through trend analysis and indicator monitoring.
- Presented immunisation and surveillance performance during quarterly reviews to promote accountability and continuous improvement.
- Submitted routine immunisation and surveillance databases to WHO AFRO and HQ to maintain international reporting obligations.
- Liaised with WHO regional office and HQ on EPI and VPD data management issues to align national practices with global standards.
- Assisted the National Department of Health with analysis of Annual Performance Plan (APP) indicator data and supported responses to Auditor-General queries on the reported APP indicators.
Polio Containment & Risk Management
- Maintained the national polio containment database to keep records accurate and aligned with global requirements.
- Contributed to laboratory polio containment surveys to support compliance with Global Polio Eradication Initiative standards.
- Served as secretariat to Ministerial Polio Eradication Committees, providing data analysis and answering domain-specific questions for national leadership.
Communication & Feedback
- Produced weekly, monthly, and quarterly feedback bulletins, slides, and detailed commentary on immunisation and surveillance performance to keep stakeholders informed and engaged.
Assistant Director – Data Manager | National Department of Health (NDoH), South Africa Jan 2016 – Jul 2018
Capacity Building & Coordination
- Built capacity of provincial, district, sub-district, and facility staff on immunisation and surveillance data management to strengthen local skills and performance.
- Coordinated and led national EPI and surveillance data quality reviews to improve accuracy and reliability of reporting.
Data Analysis, Innovation & Systems
- Conducted weekly, monthly, and quarterly immunisation and surveillance data analysis using Epi Info and Excel to provide evidence for programme decisions.
- Tracked national AFP and measles surveillance indicators against elimination and eradication targets, escalated data quality and performance issues to the responsible levels, and reported findings to stakeholders.
- Applied GIS analysis using Epi Info to map immunisation coverage and VPD surveillance data to support early outbreak detection.
- Configured and rolled out HPV immunisation data collection gadgets to support monitoring and evaluation of the HPV programme and ensure accurate tracking of coverage among target populations.
- Managed access to Excel-based immunisation and surveillance databases to ensure secure data handling.
- Maintained the national polio containment database to support compliance with global standards.
Reporting & Global Engagement
- Presented immunisation and surveillance performance during quarterly reviews to promote accountability and transparency.
- Submitted national immunisation and surveillance data to WHO country office to meet international reporting obligations.
- Coordinated completion of WHO/UNICEF joint reporting forms to ensure accurate global reporting.
- Compiled polio update reports for ARCC certification to support Africa's eradication efforts.
- Engaged stakeholders and STATS-SA on immunisation and surveillance denominators to ensure accurate denominator data for coverage monitoring.
- Analysed and reported Annual Performance Plan (APP) indicators on a quarterly basis using the departmental quarterly reporting system.
- Supported senior management in responding to Auditor-General queries on the reported APP indicators, providing the data analysis and evidence behind the responses.
Leadership
- Acted as Deputy Director when required to provide leadership and continuity in the EPI sub-directorate.
Measles Surveillance Officer | National Department of Health (NDoH), South Africa Aug 2015 – Dec 2015
Coordination & Case Management
- Coordinated national measles surveillance activities to ensure timely detection and reporting of cases.
- Collated measles case investigation forms and ensured accurate capturing in the case-based surveillance database to improve completeness of reporting.
- Worked with provincial surveillance officers to allocate epidemic numbers and fill missing information to strengthen database accuracy.
Data Quality, Analysis & Reporting
- Harmonised laboratory and case-based measles surveillance data to align reporting systems.
- Verified and cleaned case investigation data to improve reliability of the national measles database.
- Analysed case-based measles surveillance data using Epi Info and Excel to provide evidence for outbreak response.
- Submitted the national measles case-based database to WHO country office to meet international reporting requirements.
Training, Guidelines & Manuals
- Trained provincial, district, sub-district, and facility staff on completing measles case investigation forms (CIFs) and timely specimen shipment to improve surveillance quality.
- Updated national measles surveillance manuals to standardise operational practices across provinces.
Research Associate | Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE²RO) Nov 2014 – Jul 2015
- Coordinated operational aspects of TB/HIV research studies to ensure adherence to protocols and timelines.
- Contributed to the design and development of research data collection tools to improve study efficiency and data quality.
- Supported field-based data collection activities to ensure high-quality data for analysis.
- Performed statistical analysis using SAS to produce findings that informed research publications and programme decisions.
- Contributed to scientific writing, ethics submissions, and project reporting to support dissemination of results and compliance with research standards.
Research Intern | National Research Foundation (NRF) Apr 2014 – Oct 2014
- Supported coordination of TB/HIV research activities to ensure alignment with approved protocols and ethical standards.
- Assisted with data collection, cleaning, and statistical analysis to provide reliable datasets for reporting and further analysis.
- Contributed to research protocols, ethics submissions, and progress reports to support compliance requirements and dissemination of study progress.
Research Fellow | Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) Jan 2011 – Dec 2013
- Coordinated planning and execution of research projects to ensure timely delivery of outputs and adherence to study objectives.
- Conducted field-based data collection and analysis for TB and HIV studies to generate high-quality data for research and programme evaluation.
- Retrieved and harmonised data from multiple sources to ensure completeness and consistency across datasets.
- Contributed to protocol development, ethics submissions, and peer-reviewed publications to support compliance and dissemination of research findings.
- Presented research progress during internal scientific meetings to keep stakeholders informed and engaged in study developments.
Research Assistant | University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Feb 2010 – Jun 2011
- Supported laboratory preparation and academic practical sessions to ensure smooth delivery of teaching and hands-on learning.
- Assisted students during tutorials and practicals to enhance understanding and improve learning outcomes.
- Supported research activities within the seed research laboratory to contribute to ongoing projects and strengthen research outputs.
- Invigilated tests and examinations in line with institutional protocols to uphold academic integrity and compliance with assessment standards.
