This article originally appeared on K4Health and was written by Taylor M. Snyder MPH, Senior Technical Advisor, eHealth Africa.
eHealth Africa (eHA) is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners to support Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) to strengthen surveillance for all priority diseases and improve preparedness for potential public health emergencies.
eHA’s main role in the eIDSR Technical Working Group set up by the MoHS is developing and implementing a mobile electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (eIDSR) application for health care workers (HCWs). The eIDSR app improves the entire health system by allowing data to be more accurately captured at facilities, and then allowing this improved data to be shared with the district and national levels.
eIDSR was built on DHIS2, which supports the MoHS’ decision to utilize DHIS2 as the preferred health data collection tool. eHA used an open-source native app from DHIS2 and expanded its functionality to improve the submission capabilities and user interface. Each of these expanded functionalities was based on understanding the Sierra Leonean health and HCW context.
eIDSR app’s intended users are predominantly first-time smartphone technology users, so eHA simplified the user interface and designed it to closely resemble familiar paper reporting forms. Following initial trainings, members of eHA’s Global Health Informatics Team go into the field and mentor HCWs on the use of their Android phones and the eIDSR app.
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