During 2014, the IPC Information Support System (ISS) will be incorporated into the IPC Level 1 and Level 2 Training modules. IPC Regional Coordinators have also been trained and the ISS has been integrated into IPC regional strategies for 2014-2016. In 2014, specifically, the plan is to roll-out ISS in all countries implementing IPC acute analysis (approximately 10-15).

A training on the ISS for the IPC analyses team in Dodoma, Tanzania, was planned for 6-7 November 2013. Due to logistic problems, it was not possible to conduct the training on-site. As a result, the ISS Advisor, Thomas Gabrielle, and the IPC Regional Coordinator, Methode Niyongendako, decided to experience a Skype-based training for a core set of participants who would then in turn train the other participants.

The training began in Dar es Salaam and continued from Nairobi. With the remote support of the ISS Advisor, the core team was able to quickly understand the ISS and train the other participants. As a result, the IPC team in Tanzania successfully completed the IPC Acute Analyses using the ISS. In the end, the experience turned out to be cost-effective as it showed that a country could learn how to use the ISS with a fairly brief online training and could successfully utilize the ISS to conduct the analyses with a small amount of remote support.

"The disappointment of not being able to attend the training in person turned into an eye-opening realization that future ISS implementations can be conducted via online", ISS Advisor said. This paves the way to make the ISS sustainable and its application possible in more and more countries at the minimum cost.