The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical need for timely data and information to aid interventions and decision-making. Efforts by different actors resulted in various data-driven initiatives, constituting experiences of deploying data in the COVID-19 response and valuable lessons that can advance the sharing and use of data for social good beyond COVID-19. This commentary highlights key case studies detailing the experiences and lessons of those who implemented data science solutions for the COVID-19 response, as well as findings from 74 data-centric COVID-19 interventions. These interventions demonstrated successful data access strategies, productive intervention processes, and effective stakeholder engagement, all of which present potential pathways to overcoming data access obstacles across Africa. Additionally, this study also briefly explores three areas for action (i.e., institutions, people, and platforms) that can inform future policy development to increase data sharing for societal benefit in the long term.
