From the 11th-13th February 2025, the INFORM Africa Research Hub hosted a workshop on Place Resilience Index (PRI) Development & Utilization and the application of the REVEAL platform as part of the collaborative effort between its “project 1”, one of its pilot projects and its industry partner, AKROS. This 3-day workshop is the second installment to a trio-workshop/webinar series designed to empower researchers within the DS-I Africa consortium and more importantly, public health experts within varying Nigerian government agencies-in the application of PRI and REVEAL.
Prof. Olanrewaju Lawal the lead of the pilot project on place resilience index provided insights on the utilization of PRI in shaping public health outcomes, while reiterating the juxtaposition of the biophysical with place resilience through a deep dive on the influence of social factors such as poverty, education, and access to services, on disaster response. The workshop was designed to be interactive as well as ensure that participants had sufficient hands-on exposure. This encouraged contributions from participants, who shared real-world experiences and practical applications of PRIs within their work domains, while also providing an avenue for skill transfer from the seasoned resource persons to the participants.
While the first day focused on introductory sessions into the field of PRI, the second day was packed with hands-on sessions on Modelling PRI with R. The sessions explored computing resilience scores using tabular data, as well as spatial visualization and classification techniques. In the “Visualising and Classifying PRI,” session, participants generated maps for multiple resilience indicators, including population density, poverty, urban population proportion, elderly population, road density, GDP, and access to sanitation and portable water. The session provided valuable insights into applying spatial analysis for resilience assessment and planning, enhancing participants’ ability to communicate and interpret spatial patterns effectively.
The workshop also featured a 1-day training on the application of the REVEAL tool-a geospatial visualisation tool developed by INFORM Africa’s industry partner, AKROS, facilitated by the portfolio lead, Christina Riley. In this session, Christina provided access to install the tool, guided participants through key functionalities, including data set uploads, visualization, simulation, defining operational areas, and allocating them to data collectors. The session was infused with activities, providing participants with the opportunity to work in groups to present disease systems of specific areas, incorporating demographic representations of the population.
Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, the contact principal investigator of INFORM Africa, delivered the closing remarks, encouraging participants to actively apply the insights gained during the training. She emphasized the importance of translating knowledge into action and reiterated the host institution, IHVN’s commitment to supporting the government in the process of implementing these skills and resources. She added that a follow-up discussion will be held in the coming months to assess the impact of the workshop. The workshop was attended by participants from National Emergency Management Agency, National Agency for the Control of AIDS, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry Of Health, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria as well members of the consortium from other projects, outside Nigeria.
