Earticle

The Covid19 situation created a state of unequal use of data to produce vaccines. Africa was not in control over sovereign decision-making relating to the health of its citizens and to access of the data pertaining to it. The available digital architecture in Africa health facilities allowed data to be siphoned to Europe and the US at will. The purpose of the research is to argue why medical data once created should be held in ownership of the facility where the data is produced under the regulatory framework of the county and national state jurisdiction. This is referred as data that is Findable, Accessible (under welldefined conditions) Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). The study inventories the additional benefits of FAIR data for health purposes as means to assist Africa generate (self-)employment benefits to many unemployed youths based on the value that data holds in the digital economy. The study was carried out using a case study approach with four health facilities in Kenya, to help identify the contribution of the FAIR data concept to producing a sustainable outcome for health data management in Kenya. The paper discussed the potential challenges which should be overcome to realize the full potential of FAIR data for a sovereign management of the health data in Kenya. Health data remained as an asset for the health facility for providing improved health at point of care. The findings show digital health data has an economic value and health benefit if well managed at point of production.