Africa Digital Health Academy
The Beacon Track

The ADHA Digital Health Competency Framework

African-tailored and globally credible — seven competency domains across three tiers, grounded in the founders' book and benchmarked to WHO, AMIA, IMIA, TIGER and the Africa CDC model. Engineered to be ISO/IEC 17024 and CPD-accreditable.

The ladder

One ladder, three tiers.

One ladder, three tiers — formal Level I / II / SME, named for the role you grow into.

Level I

ADHA Foundation Practitioner

Grounded in core knowledge; performs defined tasks under guidance.

Credential
ADHA Foundation Certificate

How it's earned
Coursework + a proctored knowledge exam + observed practical skills checks.

Level II

ADHA Applied Practitioner

Independently applies competencies to real problems; leads a mentored project.

Credential
ADHA Practitioner Certificate

How it's earned
Module assessments + a real, mentored in-country improvement project, SME-reviewed — the gate.

SME · Level III

ADHA Expert Practitioner

Designs systems and policy; assesses and mentors Levels I–II.

Credential
ADHA Subject Matter Expert (ADHA-SME)

How it's earned
Expert dossier + peer recognition, reviewed by the ADHA Expert Panel; then serves as an assessor.

Competency matrix

Seven domains × three tiers.

Every cell is a concrete can-do statement. Each domain maps to the book's chapters and to a named domain in the world's reference frameworks.

DomainLevel I — FoundationLevel II — AppliedSME — Expert
D1
Digital Health Foundations & Ecosystem Literacy
Explains digital-health taxonomy and Africa's three transitions; names national platforms (DHIS2, OpenMRS); operates offline-capable apps safely.Orients teams to the national ecosystem and maturity model; links continental strategy (WHO, AU, Africa CDC) to local choices.Shapes national digital-health strategy and ecosystem architecture; benchmarks maturity; validates curricula.
D2
Health Data Management & Analytics
Captures accurate data; applies indicators and registers; runs basic data-quality checks; reads dashboards.Designs collection instruments; analyses in DHIS2 / Excel / R / Python; leads data-quality audits.Designs national data-quality frameworks; leads linked and longitudinal analysis; publishes findings.
D3
HIS Architecture, Interoperability & Standards
Distinguishes standalone vs interoperable systems; uses FHIR / LOINC / ICD terminology; configures basic DHIS2 metadata.Configures DHIS2 (Tracker / Event / Aggregate); implements FHIR exchange; places tools in the OpenHIE architecture.Designs national HIS enterprise architecture; leads interoperability-layer builds; advises on procurement and exit strategy.
D4
Digital Health Governance, Policy & Ethics
Maintains confidentiality and digital consent; practises cyber-hygiene; identifies the applicable national data-protection law.Drafts data-sharing agreements and privacy policies; assesses tools for bias and equity using WHO AI-ethics principles.Develops national data-protection / AI-ethics frameworks; advises ministries; leads cross-border data-governance negotiation.
D5
Sociotechnical Implementation & Change Management
Explains why implementations fail beyond the technical; maps stakeholders; delivers structured, offline-first training.Leads an implementation end-to-end (WHO DIIG lifecycle); applies NASSS; designs for scale; runs monitoring and evaluation.Designs implementation-science frameworks for national programs; builds total-cost-of-ownership models; mentors rollout teams.
D6
Clinical & Public Health Informatics Applications
Uses EMR / registries for clinical entry; follows telemedicine etiquette; enters IDSR / SORMAS data; knows CDSS can be overridden.Configures DHIS2 Tracker for a program; selects mHealth channels; runs telemedicine models; analyses outbreak data; applies GIS.Designs national surveillance architecture; leads outbreak-response informatics; designs CDSS / SMART guidelines; mandates local AI validation.
D7
Digital Health Leadership, Strategy & Innovation
Articulates the investment case for an intervention; contributes to a funding proposal; evaluates a new tool critically.Writes investment cases that convince ministries; leads multidisciplinary teams; negotiates AI vendor validation and exit clauses.Advises governments and donors on strategy; leads health-tech ecosystems as a market-maker; builds the leadership cadre.

Scroll horizontally to see all three tiers on smaller screens.

African cases onlyOffline-firstCPD-mappedCritical-adopter, not cheerleader
Curriculum building blocks

The module ladder.

Each tier is a stack of modules mapped to the founders' book. Assessment escalates: Level I knowledge + practical, Level II a mentored in-country project, SME an expert dossier.

Level I

ADHA Foundation Practitioner

  • 1.1D1

    Introduction to Digital Health in Africa

    Assessment: Quiz

  • 1.2D1

    UHC & the Digital Imperative

    Assessment: Quiz

  • 1.3D1

    Reading the Health Information Ecosystem

    Assessment: Worksheet

  • 1.4D1

    Foundational Digital Health Literacy

    Assessment: Practical check

  • 1.5D2

    Health Data Management Basics

    Assessment: Data exercise

  • 1.6D4

    Ethics, Privacy & Security Basics

    Assessment: Scenario

  • 1.7D6

    Working Safely with Clinical Tools

    Assessment: System-based

  • 1.8D6 · D4

    AI Awareness for Clinicians

    Assessment: Scenario

Level II

ADHA Applied Practitioner

  • 2.1D6

    Clinical Informatics in Practice

    Assessment: Workplace task

  • 2.2D3

    The Digital Health Platform Architecture

    Assessment: Config lab

  • 2.3D5

    Designing with Health Journeys

    Assessment: Requirements artefact

  • 2.4D6

    Telemedicine & mHealth Implementation

    Assessment: Implementation design

  • 2.5D4 · D3

    Policy, Governance & Interoperability

    Assessment: Policy memo

  • 2.6D4

    Data Governance, Privacy Law & Cybersecurity

    Assessment: DPIA draft

  • 2.7D5

    Implementation Science: Pilot to Scale

    Assessment: Mentored project plan

  • 2.8D5

    Change Management & Workforce Development

    Assessment: Change plan

SME

ADHA Expert Practitioner

  • 3.1D7 · D5

    Advanced Competency Frameworks & Workforce Governance

    Assessment: Assessor calibration

  • 3.2D4 · D7

    National Strategy Development & Enforcement

    Assessment: Strategy dossier

  • 3.3D2

    Data Science, Big Data & Advanced Analytics

    Assessment: Analytics design

  • 3.4D6 · D4

    Artificial Intelligence in African Health Systems

    Assessment: AI governance dossier

  • 3.5D6

    Frontier Tech: RPM, IoT & Edge-AI Diagnostics

    Assessment: Tech assessment

  • 3.6D7

    Health-Tech Entrepreneurship & Ecosystem Development

    Assessment: Venture case

  • 3.7D7 · D4

    Health Financing Integration for Digital Systems

    Assessment: Sustainability model

  • 3.8D4

    Governing the AI & Data Future

    Assessment: Governance simulation

Built to certify

Designed for ISO/IEC 17024 and CPD accreditation from day one.

Separation

An independent Certification Division — training and assessment never decided by the same people.

Job-task analysis

Every credential is built from a practitioner-led JTA, not course content.

Defensible assessment

Secure item banks, standard-setting, and inter-rater reliability.

CPD mapping

1 CEU = 1 contact hour; feeds Ethiopia's 30 CEU / year renewal.