Our Tanzania office employs individuals with expertise in health information systems, monitoring and evaluation, surveillance, business development and data science.
Country Representative
christen.said@ucsf.edu
Christen Said has led the local UCSF office since 2011, working to build local capacity to improve the quality and use of routine HIV-related monitoring and evaluation data and to conduct HIV surveillance activities. In addition, Ms. Said has overseen the expansion of the UCSF office to include activities to strengthen and improve health information systems. Ms. Said has collaborated with local institutions to conduct integrated behavioural surveillance surveys (IBBS) among most-at-risk populations, and played a leading role in the development and launch of a master's degree program in Health Monitoring and Evaluation at a Tanzanian university, as well as the development and implementation of M&E and data management related short courses and a regional M&E journal. In addition, Ms. Said has been involved in triangulation projects, data quality assessments, the development and roll out of national data quality assessment guidelines, designing research protocols, data analysis, and dissemination of research findings.
Technical Director
joel.ndayongeje@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Ndayongeje provides ongoing support and technical expertise for a variety of surveillance activities, including bio-behavioral surveys among key populations, as well as national and regional data triangulation, Data use and Data Quality projects. He supervises planning, designing and implementation of field activities, data analysis, interpretation, and summarization of data. He brings 26 years of experiences working in this field both inside and outside Tanzania.
Prior to joining UCSF, Mr. Ndayongeje worked for 16 years in the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Control Programme, where he was responsible for developing protocols for HIV surveillance surveys, developing monitoring systems for HIV/AIDS programs, and analyzing monitoring and evaluation and surveillance data to produce descriptive and detailed reports.
Health Information Systems Director
peter.lubambi@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Lubambi is a Health Information Management Specialist with more than 11 years of experience in Health Informatics. Mr. Lubambi has extensive experience working in Health Data Analytics, Software Development, Monitoring Evaluation & Learning, and mHealth. Prior to joining UCSF, Mr. Lubambi worked with various organizations including JSI (John Snow Inc), IntraHealth, FHI360, Jhpiego, MEDA, D-tree and University of Dar es Salaam in various capacities. Mr. Lubambi led the implementation of data management systems using DHIS2 (District Health Information Software 2), oversaw mHealth implementation, and developed data visualization solutions using PowerBI. Currently, Mr. Lubambi serves as a Health Information Systems (HIS) Director. He holds a master's degree in health information management and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences and University of Dar es Salaam, respectively.
Finance and Operations Manager
brandina.rwihula@ucglobalprograms.org
Ms. Rwihula provides administrative, financial, and logistical support to the Global Programs office in Tanzania. She oversees overall office operations, provides technical support on financial-related activities, logistical support for field activities, and works with the San Francisco-based Global Operations Team to coordinate outsourced accounting. Ms. Rwihula has a wealth of experience in all levels of accounting experience including financial management, financial reporting, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, operations, and auditing (both for profit-making and nonprofit organizations). She has over ten years’ experience in the preparation of financial statements and utilizes knowledge of accounting principles and compliance requirements for the purpose of reporting in compliance with GAAP. Ms. Rwihula is skilled in leading a team and overseeing smooth office operations, and is highly experienced in administration and human resources management. Prior to joining Global Programs, Ms. Rwihula worked in multiple roles in reputable organizations including Innovex Development Consulting Ltd, supporting overall financial activities for a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project known as Project Clear, and supporting financial activities at Raha Liquid telecom and at Pinnacle Financial Consulting Limited.
Project Support Officer
ramla.omary@ucglobalprograms.org
Ramla Omary provides administrative and operations support for the Global Programs Tanzania office, as well as logistical support for meetings, trainings and field activities and collaborates with the San Francisco-based Global Programs Operations team.
Prior to joining Global Programs, Ms. Omary worked as a Procurement Officer at HelpAge International supporting Older People’s Network and Rights, Health and Care, Social Protection and Humanitarian programs. Ms. Omary also worked as a Procurement Officer at Jhpiego Tanzania supporting maternal and child survival, voluntary male circumcision, HIV/AIDS, cervical and breast cancer, family planning and malaria programs. Ms. Omary has nine (9) years' experience working in projects and programs funded by PEPFAR under USAID and CDC as well as other US and Non-US donors such as Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation, Elton John Foundation, the UK government, the German government, and UNHCR.
HIV/TB Technical Lead
immaculata.kessy@ucglobalprograms.org
Dr. Immaculata Kessy provides HIV and AIDS programmatic expertise to guide programmatically impactful data analyses, development of programmatically meaningful informatics products, indicator and dashboard development, SOP development, visualizations, and also brings programmatic context to Global Programs’ data quality work.
She has more than 5 years’ experience in supporting integrated HIV/AIDS Care & Treatment programs, including supporting implementation of TB, PMTCT, GBV/VAC, Cervical Cancer, MAT and other related health services in the capacity of both a field worker and as a manager.
Before joining Global Programs, Dr. Kessy worked with MDH as an ART/TB Manager, as a District Clinical & SI Manager for Ilala under the PEPFAR (CDC) supported Afya Kwanza program, and as a TB/HIV Technical Advisor in Njombe region under a PEPFAR (USAID) supported program. She also worked as an ART clinician at Vingunguti Dispensary in Ilala providing comprehensive medical care for people living with HIV.
DAMES Technical Lead
laurian.katengesha@ucglobalprograms.org
Dr. Katengesha holds a bachelor’s degree in medicine from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania (2015) and a MSc in Public Health with a specialization in Health Economics from Umea University, Sweden (2018). He has several years of experience working in the Tanzanian health system, particularly in the areas of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, and HIV/AIDS. Since June 2018, Dr. Katengesha has been working as a technical staff in donor funded projects in Tanzania where he has been providing both technical and implementation support to projects and program monitoring and evaluations activities. Dr. Katengesha has strong skills and extensive experience in utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and he is conversant with various data management, analysis, and visualization software including SPSS, STATA, Atlas Ti, N-vivo, Tableau, and Power BI.As the DAMES Technical lead at UCSF Global Programs, Dr. Katengesha collaborates with a team of software developers and DREAMS program staff to develop and roll out the DAMES (DREAM Auxiliary Monitoring and Evaluation system) platform.
Data Quality Analyst
ritha.mboneko@ucglobalprograms.org
Ms. Mboneko is a Data Quality Analyst who provides technical assistance to CDC on routine data quality activities. She works with CDC-Tanzania on routine data cleaning activities, conducting data quality assessments, supporting the development of a standardized package of DQA/DQI tools and SOPs for CDC IPs, supporting the automation of data quality tools through building interactive dashboards for data visualization, and conducting variance analyses. Ms. Mboneko has worked with Global Programs for more than five years, providing expertise and technical support across a range of projects, including providing support and implementation oversight for the multi-component evaluation of the DREAMS initiative in Tanzania, conducting baseline data collection for the DREAMS study cohort, and supervising the quantitative and qualitative data collection of end-line and household surveys as a study research coordinator. She was involved in study design, training, implementation, and report writing as well as contributing to decision making. Ms. Mboneko also served as a Study Coordintor for two major surveillance studies, namely TISINI and Fisherfolk, that determined the HIV prevalence and mapped sexual networks along a major transit corridor in Tanzania and among Fisherfolk in Kagera region. She was involved in all stages of the studies from preparing and designing study questions and tools, training data collectors, conducting Formative Assessments (FA), data collection, managing study documents and bio-tools, to data analysis, and production of descriptive and detailed reports. Prior to joining Global Programs, Ms. Mboneko worked for 5 years with an International Development Consultants (IDC) company as an analyst and data coordinator on projects such as the Resettlement Action Plan for Eco-Energy Sugarcane Plantation in Bagamoyo, Tanzania; good governance research for Tonye Princewills in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Data Quality Analyst
juma.alawi@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Alawi is Health Monitoring and Evaluation specialist with a master’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation and a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Dodoma. He is equipped with quantitative and qualitative research experience and more than 5 years of experience working as an M&E professional at national and non-profit organizations that work to improve the health status of target populations through community and facility-based approaches. Mr. Alawi has strong descriptive, analytical, and cost analysis skills that suite a variety of research and evaluation designs as well as performing data structuring, cleaning, manipulation and analysis using SPSS, Statistical R Package, visualization and storytelling by using Open Refine, Tableau, Microsoft Excel, and other software.Currently Mr. Alawi works with UCSF as a Data Quality Analyst to support CDC IPs to ensure timely and complete reporting of high-quality data, and to conduct analyses of program data reported in national health information systems and dashboards (e.g., CTC2, CTC3, DHIS2, and DATIM), so as to improve data quality and the delivery of health services.Prior to UCSF, Mr. Alawi worked with MDH as a Regional M&E Officer in Tabora under the PEPFAR (CDC) supported Afya Kwanza Project and as a District Data Officer in Mtwara under the PEPFAR (USAID) supported Boresha Afya Project.
Data Visualization Analyst
tumshukuru.mhalila@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Mhalila supports the Global Programs in-country team in their work with CDC to continuously improve the quality, analysis, and use of HIV and AIDS-related health data through data analysis and visualization. His excellence in data transforming and modeling adds value in the development of new and improved strategies for analyzing and visualizing routine HIV and AIDS data at all levels of the health system. With over six years of experience in the MER and Data management industry, Mr. Mhalila worked with other international and national non-profit organizations like Tanzania Red Cross Society (TRCS), Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), and Pact Tanzania.
Senior Health Information System Developer
gerald.mosha@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Gerald A is a Senior HIS Developer who brings expertise to activities related to developing interoperability between EMR, Lab, and other health information systems. Mr. Gerald is conversant with the Microsoft Technologies, Java, and Web based programming. He has the Bachelor of Engineering in Information Systems and Network Engineering (BE. ISNE) from St. Joseph University in Tanzania 2014. He has more than 5 years working experience in developing both health care and non-health care related Information Systems. He has the critical design and analytical skills, problem solving skills, code debugging and testing skills and can play major roles in team works. Prior to joining UCSF Global Programs Tanzania, Gerald has worked in various companies and projects as follows
Mr. Gerald is flexible to work in variety of technologies and environments with curiosity to learn new technologies that facilitate the effective implementation of the project requirements and goals
Senior Health Information System Developer
ayubu.masasi@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Masasi is a senior HIS developer at UCSF Global Programs. He is a full-stack developer with deep expertise on the Microsoft technology stack. His areas of interest are systems integration, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and m-Health. In his carrier path Mr. Masasi served as lead developer for several multi-country clinical trial databases at NIMR-Muhimbili, notably the TamoVac I and Tamovac II trials which were conducted in Tanzania and Mozambique, and the Remstart trial which was done in Zambia and Tanzania. He also developed databases for TB-child and TB-Cohort clinical trials under Ifakara Health Institute (IHI)-Bagamoyo. Mr. Masasi has also done several consulting jobs in systems development in the fields of Health, Finance and Accounting, Forestry, and Monitoring & Evaluation for companies such as the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), where he developed a Customs Licence Application System (CULAS), Options Consulting LTD, where he developed a Reproductive Age and Maternal Scorecard for Dodoma and Musoma, Tanzania Forestry Services (TFS), and the Tanzania Nursing Midwifery Council (TNMAC).
Health Information System Officer
beatrice.octavian@ucglobalprograms.org
Ms. Octavian provides end user support, works with IPs and facility staff to troubleshoot installations, and works with software developers to support maintenance of HIV-related health information systems and dashboards in Tanzania, including CTC2, CTC3, CTC Analytics, the PEPFAR Monthly Portal, IQSMS applications, the Lab Visual application, and more. Prior to working for UCSF Global Programs, Ms. Octavian worked in M&E and informatics roles in various organizations. She was the SPARCO Hub Data Coordinator at the MUHAS Sickle Cell program, responsible for coordinating activities of the hub’s data workgroup. She also worked as an Associate M&E Officer at Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation-USAID Boresha Afya Project, to ensure that all data management activities essential to routine program data monitoring, reporting and use were accomplished. Ms. Octavian also worked with World Vision International for the Kigoma Refugee Project as an information system management and reporting officer. Finally, Ms. Octavian led field-based IT operations pertaining to the Last Mile Mobile Solutions technology (whenever applicable) and Country Commodity Tracking System. Ms. Octavian has 5 years' experience in information systems management, monitoring and evaluation, and has worked with various information management systems such as REDCap, CTC-2 database, DHIS2, DATIM, IPRS, LMMS and CCTS on various donor-funded projects
Senior Health Information System Analyst
amani.minja@ucglobalprograms.org
Mr. Minja is a seasoned Health Information Systems (HIS) specialist with experience in managing and implementing HIS for donor-funded health projects, and providing technical assistance to Government stakeholders in Tanzania in developing and strengthening their HIS systems. His skill set includes expertise in systems analysis, business process improvement, enhancing information exchange and supporting use of data for evidence-based decision making through implementation of sustainable information systems, industry proven interoperability strategies, and best practices. Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions to the development, deployment, and utilization of HIS systems at the national level in Tanzania. Mr. Minja currently serves as a Senior HIS Analyst at UCSF Global Programs-Tanzania. He previously led the successful deployment of several digital health projects, including: a Community Mobile Application, namely Open Smart Register Platform (OpenSRP), for registering and tracking clients and Closed User Group (CUG) Mobile Communication Service to Strengthen Network of Care for Jhpiego USAID Boresha Afya Project in Mainland, Malaria Surveillance and Data Quality Improvement mobile application DHIS2-MSDQI for Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Program (ZAMEP), and an eLearning initiative for USAID Global Health Supply Chain Technical Assistance Project, which were successfully transitioned to the Government.