270 researchers, analysts and policy experts from 34 African countries are convening in Nairobi this week to produce data that is more accessible, accurate and actionable, an essential step to helping low- and middle-income countries progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

Calling the Countdown annual meeting “a vital tradition,” Abdihamid Ibrahim Ahmed from UNICEF said, “The call to do more with less is stronger than ever. That’s why routine data is no longer a nice to have, it’s a lifeline … We must use the data we have today, however imperfect.”

This year’s annual meeting is the largest  to date. The workshop will result in updated country-level analyses of 42 key health indicators related to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child. These analyses will then be used to inform health policy and  programming across Africa.

Pamela Rao of the Gates Foundation, Countdown’s primary donor, said that Countdown presents a unique space in the global health architecture. “You can have the data, but if you’re not able to get it in the right format to the decision makers at the right time, it’s of limited use,” Ms Rao said. “Data use is about moving the needle to make sure that the health indicators and the well-being of women, children, and adolescents are improving.”

The Countdown partnership is unique in that it puts country needs at the center and emphasizes making use of all available data sources through a country-led process, noted Peter Hansen from the Global Financing Facility, which partners with Countdown to host the annual meeting. Through this process, Countdown partnerships have built a thriving community, Dr. Hansen added.

“Across many low- and middle-income countries, access to timely and high-quality population-level survey data is becoming increasingly constrained,” said Cheikh Faye, director of Countdown to 2030 and the African Population and Health Center’s West African office. “At the same time, funding for global health and routine monitoring has plateaued – or in some cases declined – raising the stakes for how we use existing data sources. This is precisely why the Countdown approach remains both timely and vital: by focusing on the use of health management information system (HMIS) and routine facility data, we are equipping countries to take full advantage of data they already produce – month after month, district by district … This is about building sustainable systems of evidence – not just for external reporting but for internal action.”

Other speakers at the opening session included Hillary Kipruto from the World Health Organization  and Me Ely Noël Diallo from the West African Health Organization who expressed concern that many African countries are  unlikely to meet Sustainable Development Goal targets, and the future of the Demographic Health Surveys and similar population-level surveys is uncertain due to funding cuts from the United States government.

The country delegations for this year’s meeting include 8 countries that are new to the Countdown initiative and 26 countries that have participated in previous annual meetings. They have been preparing for the data analysis for the past two months through remote meetings. One innovation this year is that the analysis will be conducted within an  application through Shiny, a package within R software.

New countries for 2025:

Angola · Benin · Cabo Verde · Guinea-Bissau · Namibia · South Sudan ·  The Gambia · Togo

Countries with existing country collaborations or previous annual meeting attendance:

Burkina Faso · Cameroon · Central African Republic ·  Chad · Cote d’Ivoire · DR Congo · Ethiopia · Ghana · Guinea· Kenya · Liberia · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mozambique · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Somalia · Tanzania · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe

• Access the workshop agenda here
• Access the Github repository for the Shiny app
• Learn about previous Countdown annual meetings