Yasa Bwalya

Yasa Chola Bwalya is a Senior Data Quality Assurance/Quality Control Officer at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, with over 12 years of experience in digital health, health informatics, and public health surveillance. She has strengthened Zambia’s health systems by co-developing the nation’s first Health Informatics curriculum for the University of Zambia and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, leading ICT skills assessments for the Ministry of Health, and driving the transition from paper-based to electronic health records. Yasa also co-led the development of Zambia’s Health Data Governance Framework and is spearheading new health data management regulations aligned with the Data Protection Act 2021. Her leadership in HIV surveillance programs ensures data reliability for monitoring prevalence and viral load suppression. Passionate about equity and inclusion, she advocates for accessible healthcare powered by trustworthy data and mentors young women in STEAM, believing that “we rise by lifting others.”