Guinea’s Community Health Empowerment Through Technology

eHealth Africa (eHA) continues its close collaboration with Guinea’s Ministry of Health by contributing to their efforts to reform the country’s healthcare system, with supporting funds from The Paul G. Allen Ebola Program.

In January 2015, eHA launched Guinea Connect in the prefecture of Pita, by helping health facilities produce their very first digital monthly reports. Guinea Connect was designed by eHealth Africa's Berlin based Global Informatics Department and is being locally managed by eHA Guinea’s Information and Communication Technology team. Guinea Connect’s objectives are to incorporate data-sharing mechanisms and centralize health facility data from primary health care providers. The program will enhance the overall health systems communication and allow for rapid and effective decision making.

Guinea Connect is a not a stand alone system, it is one aspect of eHealth Africa's Integrated Community Health Post Pilot program, which was launched in September 2015 in the sub-prefecture of Timbi Tounni. The program covers eight districts in the sub-prefecture. Overall, the program is piloting the use of an eHealth data collection application, automating health facility monthly reports, creating a ministerial closed user group, and introducing an e-learning platform to community health workers. The platform will support Guinea’s Ministry of Health’s capacity building program for its agents.

The pilot program also entails refurbishing six Health Posts, building one Health Post, transforming the former health center building into a residential facility for center workers, and building a new suitable Health Center. eHA will temporarily support operations in all facilities and gradually hand over to a newly created Community Association, which will ensure sustainability. The association will be composed of members from existing community groups and the diaspora.

Local authorities, Ministry of Health officials, as well as the community members welcomed the program and the opportunity to work together with eHA in improving the area’s health system. In December  2015, community members had the opportunity to express their gratitude directly to the Paul G. Allen Ebola Program's Deputy Director Brennan Banks, who visited the project area.   

eHealth Africa Hosts Jigawa State Delegates

In January, Executive Director and Co-Founder of eHealth Africa (eHA) Adam Thompson hosted a team of nine delegates from the Jigawa State Government. The Jigawa State team included Deputy Governor Ibrahim Hadejia and Commissioner for Health Dr. Abba Umar, Commissioner of Education Rabia Eshak, Commissioner of Lands and Regional Planning Honorable Adamu Sarki Miga, and the Commissioner of Water Resources Ibrahim Mohammed Garba Hannun Giwa.

The meetings started with an introduction by Adam Thompson, followed by a presentation by eHA Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department Manager Dami Sonoiki. Dami provided insights on geospatial data, which is currently being hosted by eHA to benefit the Nigerian Government.

The session included a breakdown of eHA’s GIS technologies, distribution of data management  and open source data versions and systems. Dami recommended that a distributed data management and versioning system using an open source data platform could be used by  Jigawa State to effectively manage and share data. After a brief breakout session, eHA’s Deputy Country Director Atef Fawaz led further discussions on eHA’s other projects and programs.

The last activity of the visit was a comprehensive tour of eHA’s Kano campus. The delegates were impressed with the many facilities on the campus, and thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

Ebola Rapid Diagnostic Test Pilot Training

eHealth Africa provided operational and logistical support to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a pilot two day training session for MoHS swabbers and surveillance officers in Western Area and Kenema, Sierra Leone. The training focused on the implementation of Orasure’s OraQuick Ebola Rapid Screening Test (RST) in routine dead body swabbing. This pilot is being implemented to inform an upcoming national rollout of the OraQuick RST, scheduled for February or March this year.

A common cultural practice in Sierra Leone is for a group of family members to wash and prepare the deceased relative before burial. This practice was discontinued by the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) during the Ebola outbreak in an effort to curb transmission. Safe and Dignified Burials (SDBs) were introduced by the GoSL as an alternative burial method for family members by qualified and properly attired health care workers.  The Ebola outbreak has significantly decreased, so the GoSL has began to allow family members to bury loved ones as long as the individual has not met the Ebola case definition before expiring. A swab of the body is taken before the body is approved for burial and delivered to a regional laboratory for testing. Due to a lack of resources, swab laboratory confirmations can take 2 - 5 days on average before the family is informed of the result, and sometimes longer. The benefit of point-of-care tests like OraQuick,  is that family members can be notified of presumptive results almost immediately, which enables the deceased to be released with confidence to family members within the same day.

OraQuick is easy to perform and requires only a drop of blood from a finger prick or swab from the oral cavity of a live patient. A swab from the oral cavity of the deceased may also be used for testing. The tests can be performed onsite, require minimal specialized training to perform, and produce a presumptive result in only 30 minutes. The RST has received U.S. FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization approval. When testing deceased bodies, only OraQuick has been cleared for use.

The goals for the training and implementation of RST testing was as follows:

• Provide a reliable, simple, and rapid Ebola testing technology option.

• Improve compliance with dead body swabbing which enhances surveillance.

• Provide alternate technology for presumptive POC diagnosis of suspect EVD cases, and manage more effectively the number of samples submitted for Ebola RT-PCR analysis.

The training was highly effective, and produced the following results:

• 38 DSOs, swabbers, and surveillance officers were trained on the OraQuick Ebola RST Protocol.

• Participants were refreshed and re-trained on proper PPE protocol and procedures

• The training confirmed the existing surveillance system supports the developed RST protocol.

• Surveillance teams in the Western Area and Kenema will collect OraQuick Ebola RSTs over the next three weeks.

The swab teams will receive certificates of completion at the end of the three week pilot from eHA and the CDC. They directly engage with local communities during the testing process and  have received positive feedback and willingness from households and family members to have their loved ones tested for Ebola using the RST device.

Lessons From The Field For eHA Program Designers

In 2016, eHA seeks to continue discovering and designing strategies and solutions to deliver healthcare to some of the hardest to reach areas in Africa. To design and create the right technology and information tools for health workers, the software and hardware must be developed and chosen to address the obstacles and needs of healthcare workers where they work and in the conditions they face.

Lucy Chambers is the eHA team member working on Kano Connect, based in Kano State, Nigeria. Kano Connect increases health worker communications, provides an mHealth platform for key reporting activities in supervision for routine immunizations, a vaccine supply management application, and a closed user group for health professionals to send and receive alerts and enable discussions. Lucy’s work also takes her to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, as she works with team members on the a dashboard for program analysis in the Polio Emergency Operations Center (Polio EOC) and the Vaccine Stock Performance Management Dashboard with the team at the Department of Logistics and Health Commodities.

Lucy has experienced the benefits of being in the field, and seeing firsthand what healthcare workers face with regards to the technology they use.

Here are a few tips she has to keep in mind when creating programs for healthcare workers in the field.

1. Hard to reach means 'really, really hard to reach' by European standards. In many projects around Nigeria, you will see the category 'Hard to Reach' (HTR). Even if you have to go on a motorbike to get to a settlement nearby, it’s still not hard to reach by African standards. If you hear HTR in Africa, think boats or helicopters. Think riding as far as you can in a car before you run out of roads, followed by a motorbike trip, followed by a boat trip across a large river, and then a long walk to finally reach the settlement. At that point, you can say you’ve reached a truly Hard To Reach settlement. You can never make assumptions about any infrastructure that these settlements have which makes having people on the ground to test on site essential to any requirements gathering.

2. One of the most common things you have to design and plan for is competing priorities. Health workers are working hard in the field and are pulled in many different directions, and are required to multi-task and prioritize while working with a great deal of autonomy. With these amounts of competing priorities, it’s crucial that the tech tools we create truly save time and that health workers can see the benefits of their work in real-time. With programs like the Vaccine Stock Performance Dashboard coming online, the health worker can refer to it for logistics, prioritization, and to ultimately save time.

"...it’s crucial that the tech tools we create truly save time and that health workers can see the benefits of their work in real-time."

3. If you are making a dashboard, make it highly screenshotable. Data and information from health applications must have more than just the health worker as a potential audience. Screenshots are often used to add to presentations and trainings at the local EOC (Emergency Operations Center). It is important that all the info needed can be displayed on the screen as is not cut off, and that it appears clear to the eye from far away. That means color combinations must make information legible for not only mobile phones and tablet screens, but also for large conference room screens and slide decks.

The MAPS Toolkit: An Assessment & Planning Tool for Scaling and Sustaining Mobile Health Interventions

By Nikhil D. Patil, Monitoring, Evaluation, & Research (MER) Department Manager at eHealth Africa

The Global mHealth Forum is a two-day event convening during the mHealth Summit, one of the biggest annual gatherings of mobile health professionals and entrepreneurs, globally. Presented in partnership with USAID and the mHealth Working Group, this year’s Global mHealth Forum took place in Washington, DC from November 9 - 11, 2015 and was attended by more than 4,000 delegates from around the world. The 2015 focus was on mobile and connected health in low and middle income countries.

One of the sessions that Taylor & I were most excited about was an interactive presentation on the newly released MAPS Toolkit: mHealth Assessment and Planning for Scale. The MAPS Toolkit was officially launched in September 2015, and the Global mHealth Forum was one of the first public meetings for stakeholders, partners, and beneficiaries to engage with the toolkit.

The MAPS Toolkit is a “comprehensive self-assessment and planning guide designed to improve the capacity of projects to pursue strategies that increase their potential for scaling-up and achieving long-term sustainability.” This tool is designed for use by project managers, specifically teams with an mHealth product that has already been deployed, and who are aiming to scale the product and increase impact. While global health experience formed the tool, its use can be expanded far beyond the health context and into related fields like economic equality and agricultural production. The toolkit was developed by a consortium of partners including the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research, the UN Foundation, and the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth initiative.

Harnessing feedback from mHealth implementers and technical experts on their experiences with scaling mobile health interventions in the field, the MAPS Toolkit provides a framework for scale and sustainability using six major “axes”: groundwork, partnerships, financial health, technology & architecture, operations, and monitoring & evaluation. These six axes contain a set of structured questionnaires for both team members and teams as a whole with a resulting scorecard that will help projects gain a better understanding of where that project needs to go on its “journey” towards scale and sustainability. The toolkit also serves as a decision tool, helping implementers devise strategies to overcome barriers to scale. The activities contained within the toolkit are meant to be iterative and completed multiple times throughout the life-course of the project post-pilot.

According to the MAPS Toolkit, these are the six axes of scale, key determinants of successful scale-up and sustainability relevant to all mobile health projects:

1. Groundwork: The initial steps of specifying the key components of the project’s approach to scaling-up, assessing relevant contextual influences, and taking stock of the scientific basis for the product

2. Partnerships: Collaborations with external groups to support the process of scaling up, including strategies for identifying, developing and sustaining fruitful partnerships

3. Financial Health: The projection of scale-up costs, and the development of a financial plan for securing and managing funds over the long term

4. Technology & Architecture: Steps taken to optimize the mHealth product for scaling up based on its anticipated user base, purpose, integration with information systems and compatibility with other components of the information systems architecture

5. Operations: Organizational and programmatic measures for supporting the implementation, use and maintenance of the product throughout the scaling-up process

6. Monitoring & Evaluation: Decisions and activities that enable effective process monitoring and in-depth outcome evaluation, based on project and stakeholder needs

The presentation was extremely insightful for both Taylor & I, and the six interactive sessions following the introduction prompted us to discuss areas where we felt “weak” and “strong” with regards to projects within eHealth Africa’s product portfolio. Based on our experience with designing, implementing, and scaling mHealth products in low-resource settings, we felt the toolkit had a two main limitations.

First, the toolkit specifically states that it was designed for products that have already been deployed in the field, presumably an mHealth intervention that experienced proven “impact” in the pilot phase and is now looking to deliver value at scale. However, we feel that scale really should be considered prior to product development as there are key design factors related to the way that mHealth products are built that determine how and where the product can scale and be sustained. Building a product for 1,000 users is different from building a product for 10,000 users, which is different from building a product for 100,000 users. Invoking the recently developed Principles for Digital Development, a complementary tool that could be used prior to deployment would also be beneficial to mHealth organizations to ensure we’re ideating new products with scale in mind from inception. Fortunately, the toolkit’s axes are broad enough categories that they can provide a loose framework useful for program planners for this purpose. We were excited to chat with Dimagi at the mHealth Summit about their newly released Maturity Model which somewhat addresses this issue.

Second, assessment tools such as the MAPS Toolkit can require considerable resources and time on behalf of the implementing organization - including conducting the assessments and developing action plans to implement changes based on those results. In order to integrate the results of the MAPS Toolkit into scale and sustainability planning for mHealth products, donors and other stakeholders will need to see the value in such a tool and contribute funding for routine assessment & mid-course corrections throughout the journey to scale. Advocates for the toolkit should work with donors and encourage them to invest in the tool (financially) when working with implementers that are ready to scale their mHealth products.

Given the scope of the MAPS toolkit, there is definitely great potential to use it internally at eHA to better understand where our various mHealth products are and how we can help them scale across West Africa. We are excited to test out this tool and identify areas where eHA can improve our internal sustainability models to ensure impact at scale for our portfolio of mHealth products.

Nikhil D. Patil is the Monitoring, Evaluation, & Research (MER) Department Manager for eHealth Africa and is based in Kano, Nigeria. You can follow him on Twitter & Instagram (@npatil55). Taylor M. Snyder is a MER Consultant with eHA based in Salt Lake City, Utah. You can follow her on Twitter (@TaylorMarie_MPH).

The International Training of Trainers on Sweetpotato

Stephanie Okpere in Sweetpotato field during the ToT Training, ARMTI, Ilorin.

The International Training of Trainers (ToT) on "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sweetpotato" was held in Ilorin, Kwara State, from October 5 -16. It was a 10-day intensive program, organized by the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Government of Nigeria. eHealth Africa (eHA) was represented by Stephanie Okpere, Project Coordinator from the Nigeria office. Stephanie’s training was sponsored by the International Potato Center (CIP). 

ToT was organized as part of ARMTI's goal to train "extension personnel" on the latest developments in Sweetpotato production and utilization across Africa. ARMTI in the last three years has jointly organized this course with the CIP, and Helen Keller International’s and Reaching Agents of Change project. The ToT course aims at increasing investments in the Orange-Fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) to combat vitamin A deficiency among children and women of reproductive age.

"The Sweetpotato ToT Course was a great learning experience both in theory and practice. I did a presentation of the training to over 200 staff members of eHA, and also did a step down training on sweetpotato for 35 field personnel in Kano." Stephanie Okpere, Project Coordinator

Stephanie Okpere conducting step-down training in Kano.

ARMTI also seeks to build the capacity of public sector extension and NGO personnel to effectively implement initiatives aimed at promoting the dissemination and appropriate use of Vitamin A-rich OFSP in the value chain.

“The training on Sweetpotato to eHA staff was a great opportunity to build our programming capacity in OFSP-based Nutrition & Food Security interventions, and Agricultural Commodity Value Chain Drive in Kano and other States in Northern Nigeria.” - Dr. Sarma Mallubhotla, Program Manager, Health, Nutrition and Agriculture

Dr. Sarma Mallubhotla addressing the trainees in eHA.

Click here to read about the use of the Orange-Fleshed Sweetpotato to fight malnutrition in Africa.  

Information, Inspiration, & Equality: Reflections from the American Public Health Association 2015 Conference

by Nikhil D. Patil, MPH

In early November, I joined 12,000 of my fellow public health colleagues in Chicago, Illinois for the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). APHA is a venue for public health professionals and leaders from around the world to discuss and share evidence and strategies for improving the health of populations, domestically and abroad. The theme for the 143rd meeting was “Health in all Policies,” highlighting the impact of where someone lives, works, learns, and plays on their ability to live a healthy life. The event focused on how we can create policies at community, state, and federal levels to ensure the scale and sustainability of public health interventions. 

Dr. Vivek Murthy, MD, MPA, the US Surgeon General reflected on this theme in his opening plenary saying “health has to be woven into every strand of public policy,” reminding all attendees that we must all step up and be the leaders that our world needs. He spoke of three elements at the heart of public health leadership: information, inspiration, and equality. First, public health needs to adapt to changing information platforms and identify the best avenues for communicating health messages. The information we communicate matters, but how we communicate that information is just as important and will require that public health modernizes its approach to reaching people through relevant channels. Second, information is not always sufficient to change behavior. Inspired messages through innovative platforms are necessary to increase people’s agency and empower them to live healthier lives. Finally, equity is central to public health practice and in order to remove inequality, every life has to been seen as valuable. 

He is hopeful about public health and the progress we’ve made in the field, saying “this is how we will change the world together: by modernizing how we share information; by finding ways to inspire and support people in their pursuit of health; and by ensuring we are creating a world that is grounded in equality, a world where opportunity is available to all.” I can’t think of a statement that is more reflective of the values eHealth Africa holds as an organization.

*    *    *    *    *

Responding to this year’s theme, I was in attendance to present a poster on behalf of my Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research (MER) colleagues. Titled “Mapping telecommunications coverage at public health facilities in Northern Nigeria,” the presentation focused on equitable mobile coverage being necessary to support mobile and electronic-health interventions, particularly in low-resource settings. The poster discussed a GIS-enabled methodology for modeling estimates of telecommunications coverage at public health facilities across Kano State, mapping two out of the four mobile network operators in Kano. The modeling methodology used a radio frequency approach and required location coordinates for cell towers and public health facilities; results estimated an overall low telecommunications coverage at health facilities across Kano. A methodology useful for program planners of mobile health programs, we advocated for the role that governments can play in developing policies to encourage improved mobile network infrastructure to support mHealth programs across the state, in partnership with the private sector telecommunications industry. 

eHA’s poster fit under APHA’s “Health Informatics & Information Technology” (HIIT) poster and presentation section. The accompanying poster presentation I gave was well-received. Several of the HIIT attendees requested additional information and connections with eHA and our services, which I look forward to following-up. Overall, the conference was well organized, although a bit hectic due to multiple, simultaneous meetings and presentations making it difficult to see and meet everyone. However, I left the conference excited about the advancements that my fellow public health colleagues were making to improve the health of populations around the world, and inspired to share some of what I learned with my colleagues back in Nigeria.

Nikhil D. Patil is the Monitoring, Evaluation, & Research Department Manager for eHealth Africa and is based in Kano, Nigeria. You can follow him on Twitter & Instagram (@npatil55).

eHA at the Global Health Supply Chain Summit 2015

The Global Health Supply Chain Summit was held 11-13 November, 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. The summit focused on the coordination of people, products, and processes to maximize the impact of global health supply chains.

Summit attendees heard case studies, strategies, and frameworks to better coordinate global health supply chains logistics and implementation. Country planners, pharmaceutical industry reps, and NGOs including eHA joined an array of renowned industry professionals and representatives from multiple countries. The summit was presented in both English and French.

Presentations & Strategies

eHA’s Director Adam Thompson was a presenter, along with eHA’s Adia Oroghene. They presented two studies, focused on:

1. Passive Voltage Monitoring and Implications for Cold Chain System Capacity

2. Vaccine Last-Mile Supply Chain in Kano, Nigeria

Key Take-Aways

The key points below summarize the case studies, reviews, and strategies discussed at the summit:

1. There is a need for public/private sector partnership in the supply chain model, where the private sector takes up the burden in the last mile of delivery

2. Donor funding should focus on low income countries

3. Insurance schemes should fund a large portion of the supply chain model

4. As the private sector takes up responsibilities in the supply chain partnership, human resources are vital for taking competency into consideration

5. Drug regulation will ensure quality in the supply chain

6. Drones are the future of last mile delivery solutions. Drones are already being used for shipping humanitarian commodities where needed, for example, in Nepal

7. Drone projects will be launched in 2016 in East Ghana by the US Centre for Global Supply Chain Management

8. The use of mathematical models in simulating supply chains is still important, and remains the best way to provide visibility for supply chain optimization

9. The GAVI Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) has approved a new supply chain strategy focused on ensuring vaccine availability, vaccines are highly efficient resources for the supply chain

10. GAVI have expanded to include non-vaccine demands

11. GAVI’s goal is to ensure vaccine coverage and equity, making sure they are accessible in both urban and rural areas for anyone who needs them

12. Voltage fluctuation is a challenge which affects the lifespan of cold chain equipment

13. Availability of voltage fluctuation data would help manufacturers design future cold chain equipment for Africa.

Connections Made

While at the summit, eHA made connections with other organizations to talk about the future of supply chain partnerships. These organizations included PATH (Seattle), Axios (Nigeria), the Federal Ministry of Health (Nigeria), GAVI (Geneva), and USAID (Nigeria). The summit was a great opportunity to streamline supply chains, thereby increasing the speed and delivery of global healthcare.

Want to explore more about the Global Health Supply Chain Summit? Visit their website at http://ghscs.com/.

United Nations Foundation 2015 Global Leadership Dinner

By Nonie Williams, eHA Director of Business and Strategic Development

The UN Foundation and UN Association of the United States of America 2015 Global Leadership Dinner in New York City was fantastic! It was a pleasure to represent eHA at the event.

I was seated just two tables away from Her Highness Queen Rania of Jordan. Queen Rania was accompanied by the CEO of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, a Kurdish American entrepreneur who was given a Global Leadership Award for his work to improve conditions for international refugees. He is also based in New York and expressed interest in hearing more about our Vulnerable Populations work in Northern Nigeria with respect to Internally Displaced Persons. I spoke to Her Highness briefly about my studies at Yarmouk University in Irbid Jordan.  

I also spoke with Kofi Annan and his wife Nane Maria Annan about eHA’s work with Dr. Ted Carey and the International Potato Center. I mentioned our efforts to develop manufacturing capacity in Northern Nigeria to produce fortified and nutritious foods. I specifically mentioned our Ready To Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) project in collaboration with the European Union and Nigerian Government. Mrs. Annan spoke quite extensively about the orange fleshed sweetpotato puree as a great product, saying it would be wonderful if eHA could manufacture this puree in addition to RUTFs. Kofi Annan was also impressed to learn that eHA was among the first responders during the Ebola Crisis in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. He spoke in great detail about Ebola Response and was impressed with eHA’s broad mission in Africa.

I was able to speak with Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He was given a Global Leadership award for his work in Iran. Dr. Shaheed is an internationally recognized expert on foreign policy, international diplomacy, democratization, and human rights reform, especially in Muslim States. My first round of graduate studies was Middle East Studies and Politics, and it was an honor to take a photo and meet Dr. Shaheed in person. He is also based in New York and would like to hear more about our Vulnerable Populations work in Northern Nigeria with respect to Internally Displaced Persons.

I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Linda Wright, the Senior Medical Officer of the U.S. National Institute of Health Child Health and Development.. She is interested in establishing birth registries in West and Sub Saharan Africa. We will be meeting to discuss potential opportunities in this arena. She was sincerely interested in learning more about eHA’s mission and Global Health Informatics solutions.

I was also seated with Deputy Permanent Representative and Minister Counsellor of Rwanda, Ms. Jeanne d’Arc Byaje. We spoke extensively about life, children, and her experience in Rwanda. She wrote a play about her experience and is interested in making a movie. We shared a taxi uptown after the event. She is based in New York and we will meet to discuss her work and eHA’s mission soon.  

Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative

From September 29-October 1, eHealth Africa was invited to participate in the 6th Annual Technical Meetings for the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) held in Kigali, Rwanda. eHA was represented by Dr. Sarma Mallubhotla, Program Manager for Health, Nutrition and Agriculture. 

Dr. Mallubhotla celebrating Nigeria's Independence Day & Promoting Orange-fleshed Sweetpotato in Kigali's SPHI Exhibition

Launched in October 2009, SPHI is a 10-year, multi-donor effort that seeks to reduce child malnutrition and improve smallholder incomes through the effective production and expanded use of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes (OFSPs) in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2020, the initiative aims to improve the lives of 10 million African households, achieving an annual value of $241 million in additional production in 17 African countries.

Malnutrition contributes to half of all deaths of children under five. When children don’t have the right nutrients in their diets, such as vitamin A or zinc, they struggle to fight off common diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia. Poor nutrition has lifelong consequences for physical and mental health. According to the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the role of agriculture in Africa’s development is enormous.

The meetings began with an opening address by the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Honorable Geraldine Mukesimana, Republic of Rwanda. A major goal of this meeting was to have representative participation by scientists and practitioners throughout Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), as well as international academic institutes, NGOs and donors. The meetings drew more than 100 participants from 14 countries.  

“Malnutrition contributes to half of all deaths of children under five.”

“eHA’s work in health and nutrition will be two-pronged,” said eHA’s Dr. Mallubhotla. “We will be making real-time, accurate data available to all stakeholders, and working on the ground in partnership with International Development partners, as well as national and state governments to create sustainable interventions & monitoring tools that clearly demonstrate improvement in the health and nutritional status of children and women.”

Recently CIP and eHA signed a collaborative agreement to work on agriculture & food-based “OFSP projects” in the SSA region. Achieving food and nutrition security is an essential tool for fighting poverty. Biofortified crops such as OFSP with better agronomy can lead to better nutrition and sustainable livelihoods. 

Dr. Mallubhotla with Dr. Barbara Wells, Director General-CIP, and Dr. Ted Carey, Senior Scientist & Regional Sweetpotato Breeder (Ghana Sweetpotato Support Platform).

From the CIP Ghana sweetpotato support platform, Dr. Ted Carey & Dr. Erna Abidin presented their team’s research for development work: “Jumpstarting OFSP In West Africa Through Diversified Markets.” Their project highlighted sustainable and inclusive market-driven approaches for OFSP to increase smallholder incomes and improve health through consumption of Vitamin A rich OFSP, and to reach millions of households, especially women and children in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

Dr. Olapeju Phorbee, CIP Country Representative (Nigeria) showcased her collaborative project work on “OFSP In The School Feeding Program Of Osun State, Nigeria.” She emphasized the need for demand creation for nutritious OFSP. Dr. Jude Njoku, Agronomist from National Root Crops Research Institute in Umudike, Nigeria, discussed the role of decentralized vine multipliers (DVMs) and quality declared planting materials in increasing the growth and yield of OFSP varieties in Nigeria. According to Dr. Njoku, “Farmers should be sensitized on the importance of generating high-quality planting materials [for OFSP production].”  

CIP & eHA are working together to enhance food availability and income generation through expanded production and diversified use of nutritious Orange-Fleshed Sweetpotatoes, with a geographical focus on Nigeria and other West African countries. Together, we continue to develop and test technologies and delivery mechanisms that are capable of fulfilling these goals.

“We will be making real-time, accurate data available to all stakeholders, and working on the ground in partnership...to create sustainable interventions & monitoring tools that clearly demonstrate improvement in the health and nutritional status of children and women.”

— Dr. Sarma Mallubhotla

eHA At The First Global Summit On Food Fortification In Tanzania

eHealth Africa was honored to participate in the first ever Global Summit on Food Fortification, September 9 - 11, 2015, held in Arusha, Tanzania. eHA was represented at the summit by Dr. Sarma C. Mallubhotla, Program Manager for Health, Nutrition, and Agriculture. The summit drew 450 delegates representing 57 countries, as well as many leaders from major businesses, academic institutions, and international organizations.

The Need For Food Fortification Worldwide

The summit began with a greeting by the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, the Rt. Hon Mizengo Pinda. African Union Nutrition Champion HRH King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho also presented.

Dr. Chris Elias, from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation set the tone through his keynote address “Food for Thought”: “Where do we stand after a century of fortification? Around half the population globally are malnourished and each day 805 million people go hungry.” Particularly affected are low-income population groups that do not have sufficient resources to afford a balanced diet, as well as children and pregnant and lactating women. The micronutrient deficiencies have severe consequences as the immune system is weakened and the risk of infectious diseases and subsequent mortality increases.  Moreover, these deficiencies stunt growth and development, lower performance and productivity, and thus result in lowered incomes, economy, and ultimately poverty.  

“Where do we stand after a century of fortification? Around half the population globally are malnourished and each day 805 million people go hungry.”

Dr. Reina Engle-Stone from the University of California Davis highlighted the need for better coordination and coherence of nutrition programs over space and time to address micronutrient malnutrition, and advocated for a “economic optimization model” to enhance coverage. According to the Copenhagen Consensus, the return on investment of food fortification is one of the highest development dividends with an estimated benefit: cost of fortification is around 30:1. Hence nutrition and fortification, truly, is one of the world’s best humanitarian investments!  

eHA’s representative Dr. Mallubhotla held many meaningful discussions with leading personalities in the field of food fortification, as well as one-on-one interactions with experts from development organizations on some of the Africa-specific nutrition security issues. 

“The role of ‘technology-driven’ organizations like eHealth Africa,” said Dr. Mallubhotla, “is of paramount importance in collecting right data using GIS-software platforms, and smart use of data analytics. This provides the results of nutrition programs to decision makers, and thereby enhances the enabling environment in target countries.”

As per the Arusha Statement, “Preventable deficiencies of critical vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, D, iron, iodine, folic acid and zinc contribute to up to 3 million child deaths annually. The best available estimates point to 2 billion people that are affected by micronutrient malnutrition, but it is highly probable that the burden is even greater, as we lack precise data.”  

The Solution Food Fortification Provides

Food fortification is an effective and inexpensive solution to combat hidden hunger. The WHO estimates that, in particular, 140 to 250 million children under five years of age are suffering from vitamin A deficiency worldwide.  Additionally, women with vitamin A deficiency are at a much higher risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. 

The Food Fortification Summit also held a session on the role of fortification and the 1,000-day window with a special focus on Iodine and Folic acid.  Country delegations shared their fortification experiences with highlights and key achievements.

Great efforts and investments by international development partners in low and middle-income countries have provided key experiences and lessons in the past several decades for sustainable scale-ups in food fortification to achieve maximum impact. 

What It Will Take To Make It Happen

In general, education of consumers regarding the benefits of micronutrients and healthier diets are required. Although adding micronutrients to food is a relatively simple process, there are several technical, social, and economic challenges associated with implementing sustainable fortification programs in developing countries.  Strong cross-sector partnerships need to be built to overcome these challenges and reach the goal of breaking down malnutrition, and the Global Food Fortification Summit was a hugely successful forum toward that goal. 

Africa Open Data Conference in Tanzania

The Inaugural Africa Open Data Conference was held in Dar es Salam, Tanzania between 2-5 September, 2015. The open data conference was a follow-up to a high level Conference held in Addis Ababa on 25-29 March, 2015, which gave birth to Africa Data Consensus. The consensus was created as an Africa Open Data revolution to empower and enlighten African citizenry, requesting more action from their government and a road map for Country-led Data Revolution recommendations.

The open data conference aimed to bring together stakeholders in the data industry in Africa from government to the private sectors, NGOs, international development agencies and citizens to discuss progress and achievements of open data, and to educate as well as determine the next line of actions. 

“Data is considered to be “open” if anyone can freely use, re-use and redistribute them, for any purpose, without restriction." World bank, Open Data in 60 Seconds

There were talks on strategies for the harmonization of actionable data in Africa, open data readiness assessment, and open data toolkits as well as training and empowerment with necessary support for the next generation of open data specialists in Africa.

Exploring Open Data 

Data is important, and open data deepens the link between policies and the impact they will have on the populace.

The pre-conference program schedule commenced on September 2nd with two full days of informative sessions. Topics covered include understanding open data, data revolution, and building data communities. There were sessions on education, business community, and open data in government. 

The conference proper started on September 4th with the highlight being the visit of the Tanzanian president, who delivered a speech on the importance of open data for Africa's development and how much it has been adopted by African heads of states. He made mention of the Africa Union Peer Review Committee whereby African heads of states' performances are independently reviewed to confirm if the progress and development reported conforms with what is truly happening on ground. He also made mention of Tanzanian government progress on open data, and explained why certain data or information cannot be made public for security reasons.

Other organizations, international development agencies, NGOs and government representatives had the opportunity to showcase their open data programs and portals, as well as the need for the populace to consume the data being made open for citizenry participation. It is not enough to make data open, it is more important that the data is used and consumed.

In addition to talks on various types of data including the importance of geospatial data, there were also debates on the importance of data format and putting data out in machine readable formats like CSV. Gone are the days when important information and actionable data are shared in PDF format, which makes it difficult to interact with. When you have data in machine readable formats and APIs, more actions and interaction can be inspired with developed apps.

There was an Open Data Expo and stands/booths from various organizations and players in the open data community. The exhibition ranged from various types of data, both numerical and geospatial data, to various technology and platforms to host, participate, collect and contribute to the data revolution drive going on around the world and in Africa.

Open Data Benefits and Next Steps

The benefits of open data are numerous, benefits of which the African continent stands to rediscover itself. These benefits include promoting accountability and transparency, translating to development and informed decisions in the private sector and helping create an inclusive society.

Key action areas discussed include the need for government to give access to more data for the sake of open government, and to strengthen the country National Statistical Offices. There must be more awareness for the citizen to access open data, and for the media to play a big role so that the Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved.

At eHealth Africa, we have already embraced the open data revolution with our open data portal, which gives free access for anyone to make use of our data for any reason.

Visit our Open Data Portal here: http://data.ehealthafrica.org/

An Intern's Experience On The Geographic Information Systems Team

My name is Samantha Tedford. I am an undergraduate student studying Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas, Austin in the United States. For the past two months I worked as an intern with the Geographic Information Systems team (GIS) at eHealth Africa (eHA) in Kano, Nigeria. 

Working with the eHA GIS team in Kano was a life changing experience for me professionally, academically, and personally. I learned more in two months than I could have from a full semester of GIS classes. The GIS team was patient with me when I was trying to understand the work that eHA does particularly with polio and vaccination tracking, and they were a great resource for me throughout the duration of my project. I loved working with the team who are all dedicated professionals, and I am lucky to be able to call them my friends. 

What is the Geographic Information System?

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is essentially a tool which allows its user to manipulate, visualize, analyze, and interpret spatial data. eHA’s GIS team, in collaboration with others, has created a highly robust GIS over the past three years from areas that were previously unknown. eHA’s GIS contains information about settlements, cities, roads, administrative boundaries, geological features, and points of interest such as health facilities, markets, and schools in eight project states across Northern Nigeria. The GIS of Northern Nigeria was built up through the years by a series of data collection techniques. 

One of the first methods of gathering spatial data in this region was remote sensing (RS). The data gathered by the RS projects alongside other satellite imagery was used to feed a process of semi automatic feature extraction and classification. This involved a program reading the reflectance values given by the RS data collection and using predefined rules to sort the various areas of Northern Nigeria into their feature category (settlement, forested area, waterbody, road). This being a semi automatic process, it still required and continually requires quality checking and frequent updating by the GIS team. The RS results are supplemented by routine data collection campaigns in which teams of Data Collectors physically go into the field carrying GPS enabled devices and gather information about the specific coordinates of points of interest or settlements, names of settlement areas or wards, and any other information needed to strengthen the GIS. All of this data is integrated into the GIS by the GIS team and continually undergoes stages of quality checking, data cleaning and frequent updating. 

What is the practical application of GIS in Northern Nigeria?

The GIS of Northern Nigeria is used to support a number of projects within eHA by providing highly detailed and accurate maps, navigation and routing planning and support, and supplying the foundation for other projects such as the Vaccination Tracking System. eHA’s GIS data supports the polio program specifically through providing a variety of maps that can be used to assist in the micro planning process before a supplementary immunization campaign (SIA). These basemaps ensure that every SIA, know as an Immunization Plus Days (IPD) in Nigeria, is as efficient and effective as it can be. 

My internship project was to perform an evaluation of the Vaccination Tracking System in conjunction with the GIS data to determine what effects the program. I began by collecting data about Wild Poliovirus in Nigeria from a variety of external sources. After collecting and integrating that data, I created a variety of maps both static and animated to search for trends in WPV distribution both spatially and temporally. Then I gathered data from the Vaccination Tracking System which involved gathering data from 32 tracked SIA campaigns across three years. Once I had completed that process I created an interactive map in which both the WPV cases and the VTS coverage areas and quality of coverage in those areas was visualized simultaneously and controlled by time. I used my understanding of WPV in Nigeria, eHA’s GIS and VTS, and the data I had collected to explore the ways in which WPV, GIS, and the VTS impact one another. At the end of my project I gave a presentation on my analysis and results, and wrote a report on the topic of my observations and findings which included the 40 maps I produced. 

What I learned from the internship

The internship was valuable to me and my studies as a geography student with a focus in GIS and sustainability. I gained professional experience working alongside highly experienced and leading GIS specialists by learning more about the building and maintenance of a good GIS, as well as various data collection techniques, vaccine direct delivery, cartography, and technical writing. I now better understand concepts in GIS and GI science as I have seen how they can be practically applied in a workplace. 

Overall, I loved my experience as an intern with the GIS department and would recommend others to join eHA as an intern across their wide spectrum of work. Not only did I learn a great deal about the intersections of GIS and public health from my project, but I also learned a lot from my coworkers about kindness and respect for cultural diversity in the workplace. 

State Of The Map Conference at the United Nations

In June 2015, the United Nation's Headquarters in New York City hosted the State Of The Map conference. This annual conference is a place for OpenStreetMap (OSM) users and contributors to come together, share ideas, and explore the future of this powerful tool. Both veterans and new users attend, nurturing an environment of teamwork and working to perfect the OSM platform. 

OSM has been a big part of eHA's work, as eHA is a big contributor to the platform for mapping hard-to-reach settlements for vaccination and other public health needs. When the State Of The Map Conference was held from June 6-8 this year, eHA’s GIS Project Manager Dami Sonoiki submitted a presentation to the OSM forum. His presentation provided a brief summary to conference attendees about eHA’s contributions to OpenStreetMap, and discussed the wide uses on how eHA's GIS team utilizes the platform on a day-to-day basis. 

The presentation sparked many conversations with OSM users and potential GIS partners requesting more information and considering the benefits of working with our organization. 

eHA takes pride in our groundbreaking work with OSM and works hard to lead this work in the mapping and development community. As we continue to contribute and influence the development of the OpenStreetMap platform, we are grateful for our partners in the Open Geospatial Data community that have seen the benefits to public health and have encouraged and supported us along the way.

eHA partners with the Nigerian Government on a crucial IDP Needs Assessment Mission

Since 2009, many people from areas in northeast Nigeria have suffered terrible consequencesfrom brutal attacks by insurgents. Whole families have had to leave their livelihoods and their ancestral homes, leading to the mass displacement of whole villages and communities. The states most heavily affected by the unrest are Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. As a result of this situation, in November of 2012 the Government of Nigeria (GoN) declared a state of emergency in those states.

With the recapturing of some of these territories by the military and other security forces, some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have started returning to their homes and communities. Insurgency is still a problem, but Adamawa State has so far recorded the highest number of returnees, due to significant security improvements.

Once IDPs began returning home, they faced huge challenges to resume normal life. Insurgents often burn down houses and destroy long established schools and health centers, which can be traumatic for the returnees. 

A comprehensive needs assessment was undertaken by the GoN to find out the experiences of the IDPs,  measure community needs, and to work out required levels of humanitarian assistance to the IDPs in camps and host communities. eHA saw opportunities to partner with the GoN and other humanitarian organizations to provide assistance to IDPs in three thematic areas: WASH, Health, and Nutrition. 

NEMA, on behalf of the GoN and the Humanitarian Country Team conducted a joint rapid assessment in areas where IDPs were returning home within Adamawa State from July 1-10, 2015. The assessment determined humanitarian needs within returning populations: the availability of food, livelihood opportunities, health, education, water, sanitation, hygiene, food security, nutrition, protection, shelter and NFIs. Once these needs were measured, the assessment identified gaps in the services and relief being provided.

The Assessment Process

The assessment used Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), by bringing experts from the mainthematic areas of the mission to the field. The KI’s provided questions for the communities on their area of competence. For example a nurse working in a health facility led on the nutrition and health questions, while a principal or school teacher led on education. KIIs were facility based, and GPS records of the site were taken. eHA preloaded assessment questions onto smartphones which were directly inputted .  At the conclusion of each interview, assessment data was uploaded in near real-time for faster processing.

Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) took place using a cross-section of the community, namely LGA and community leaders, women, men, and youths. FGD questions were embedded in the assessment protocol which had been circulated earlier to the assessment teams.

The assessment found that many of the IDP’s on their return had experienced issues with extortion by security operatives at checkpoints, further attacks by insurgents, had limited access to construction materials, and lack of clean water. They couldn’t find jobs, there was often no schools close by they could send their children to, and they did not have enough of a balanced diet. 

eHA's Recommendations

- Provide urgent food assistance, livelihoods support and capacity building in the form of agricultural supports through provision of farm inputs and seeds for planting. 

- Support for shelter and NFIs to assist households in rebuilding their homes using available local resources within the communities.

- Advocacy for improved security in the affected areas.

- Provision of medical services and commodities construction and rehabilitation of boreholes 

- Provision and advocacy of personal hygiene materials 

- Education facilities are overstretched in peaceful areas. More functioning and accessible schools need to be built and teaching and learning materials need to be provided.

At the end of the 10 day assessment, seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Adamawa state were covered: Maiha, Gombi, Mubi North, Mubi South, Hong, Michika, and Madagali. Within those seven LGAs, approximately thirty communities in the seven LGAs were reached. 

eHA was honored to work on such a vital and important mission to improve isolated peoples’ lives, and is now exploring other opportunities to partner with the GoN and help bring back normal life to people in the northern region of Nigeria. 

Continuing The Fight Against Ebola In Liberia

In Liberia, the eHealth Africa (eHA) team provides vital ongoing support to the important work undertaken by the Government of Liberia and partners to contain the latest outbreak of Ebola in Magribi province.

eHA has a permanent team of health workers stationed there, who are backed by other rapid response teams that visit the province each day to support and relieve the hard working permanent staff members.

eHA provides four Ebola Case Investigators to the local Ebola Treatment Center around the clock, seven days a week. Contact tracing of Ebola and patient communication has reached new levels of efficiency through the use of applications developed earlier this year by eHA. These applications are called Sense Ebola Followup and Tag And Go (TAG).

High level visit to the TAG programme

In early July, the Liberian government’s chairman for Ebola case management Dr. Massaquoi and the Head of UNICEF,  Mr. Sheldon Yett visited the TAG project. Both men were impressed with the efficiency of operations provided by the programme. They explored the results  from the programme and verified that every patient in the Ebola Treatment Unit was successfully reached and entered into the TAG system in a timely fashion.

The Sense Ebola programme

Two members from eHA’s Information Systems Team work in the team,  and manage the deployment of 22 team members as Contact Tracers in the region. They use mobile data capturing devices such as smartphones and tablets to track the spread of Ebola from the source person.

We also provide training in the use of eHA’s Sense Followup application. Currently, there are 140 people registered for contact tracing follow up.

Another contact tracing exercise is taking place in Montserrado, where a case was confirmed from a person in Magribi who visited his extended family before being admitted to the Ebola Treatment Unit. The result from the exercise was that 17 other contacts were recorded, and successfully reached via the Sense programme.

The Tag And Go application

During July, 29 patients passed through the local Ebola Treatment Unit, with all people recorded in eHA’s TAG application which records next of kin and basic contact information. When a patient is admitted, a member of the clinical team makes a phone call to establish a relationship with the patient’s next of kin. As the treatment continues, eHealth Africa’s Case Investigation Team uses the TAG application to send regular SMS updates to the patient’s family.

The ability to keep family regularly informed is ground-breaking in all of the Ebola work taking place, and makes all the difference in good relationships and high levels of trust between local communities and the health workers.

eHealth Africa Program Manager Lends Expertise To IAPHL Forum

Michael Moreland, Program Manager at eHA, moderated a global discussion in June along with Roberto Dal Bianco, a private pharmaceutical logistics consultant, and Wendy Prosser, Project Manager at VillageReach, on IAPHL (International Association of Public Health Logisticians). The discussion thread was focused on why the model of distribution and public-private partnership engagement matters, particularly for program costs.

Early in the forum, Michael and the other moderators shared highly informative experiences from the field, exploring third-party logistics partners (3PLs) and how they can create value in public health. The expertise expressed and the questions posed prompted consistent and helpful discussions during the forum, exploring the value of partnerships with 3PLs and the added efficiency those relationships can produce.

The write-up below is as it was written for the IAPHL forum by the moderators.

To read the ongoing conversation that followed this post, click here to go to the forum.

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Greetings IAPHL colleagues, near and far,

As the Senegal study suggests, direct delivery and outsourced models are finding success, but as strategies they are still nascent in the global toolkit. The Senegal model, and those like it in South Africa and Thailand, suggest that partnering with third-party logistics (3PL) providers for last-mile delivery can be cost effective. In Nigeria where our nonprofit runs a 3PL under contract with state governments for routine immunization supply delivery, we have also found our costs on par if not cheaper than what the state runs without compromising effectiveness. With a growing evidence base of successful reference models, it may be an appropriate time to start thinking about what comes next, after the pilots, and what it will take to scale, sustain, and replicate these strategies. I’d like to propose some questions along these lines, followed by prompts, and hear your thoughts.

What makes working with a 3PL different?

The right partner can make all the difference. But are there inherent differences in what an outsourced partner can bring to a program that cannot be replicated within the government? Senegal’s example of the 3PL’s part-time staff is one. Some examples from what we have seen in Nigeria include the following:

• Funding Leverage: Through fee-for-service contracts with 3PLs, government can leverage limited operational funds to spur investment in or assignment of the upfront capital costs of vehicles and equipment, allowing the government to augment third-party investment or free up its capital budget to invest elsewhere. This can be among the catalysts necessary to enable large-scale system transformations.
• Regional scale: While EPI is managed according to states in Nigeria, and its operations must work according to political boundaries, a 3PL can operate regionally in some regards, and make more effective use of scale across borders.
• Shared costs: 3PLs can maximize the utilization of their capital assets by servicing other contracts, such as other public or private-sector clients. By increasing utilization and scale, with the right contractual provisions in place, the 3PL shares its core costs across more clients reducing the share each must bear.

Are these valid from your experience? Are there downsides? What other characteristics of outsourcing are fundamentally different, from a cost standpoint, than the way governments can operate? Alternatively, are there things government can do in this regard that a 3PL simply cannot?

How should we be defining “value”?

In Nigeria we try to assess value – outcomes per dollar spent – in a shared sense, inclusive of government, facilities, the program, and our operation. To create value, the operation must maximize outcomes relative to costs, and both government and 3PLs have roles to play. We like this approach because we know that efforts to improve only one side of this equation can lead to unsustainable programs or false savings.

The challenge is that outcomes and costs are multidimensional. The Senegal study focused on incidences of stockouts, a leading indicator of performance. So the follow-up question may be, “What are the next outcomes we should be measuring?”

Again in Nigeria, we have seen value come to include more standard supply-chain performance indicators, like “on-time and in-full” and “cold chain temperature performance.” Other less obvious indicators include the quality and types of data collected and services our drivers render at each delivery.

On the other side of the value equation, beyond continuously trying to reduce our running costs relative to these values, we focus increasingly on total costs. For example, we operate a sinking/reserve fund, above and beyond repair and maintenance costs, capitalized by calculated contributions each payment period. Through it we ensure we have the funds necessary to invest in new trucks and cold boxes at the end of their useful lives. This makes it a bit more expensive for us in the short-term, but is essential in ensuring transport capacity is available so long as there is a program to serve. If we do it right, it should improve key outcomes relative to these costs.

What are the ways in which you see last-mile delivery operations creating programmatic value currently? How could they? What are the outcome variables and costs you have seen tracked?

What are the optimal ways of engaging 3PLs to maximize this value in the long-term?

The structure and design of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) between government and a 3PL establish the terms of how these groups work together to create value, and can determine their fate. The components of these agreements can include the following.

• Service levels and frequency of deliveries
• Number of facilities and commodities under management
• Reporting requirements
• Key performance indicators
• Minimum standards
• Pricing model and rates

In each of these is an opportunity to align the interests of the stakeholders. What are the best ways of approaching these? Pricing models are of particular interest. What is the best way to pay for last-mile delivery services? Fixed rates per delivery attempt? Based on volumes carried and distances traveled? Performance-based payments? What have you seen? What would work where you are?

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To read the ongoing conversation that followed this post, click here to go to the forum.

After defeating ebola, Liberia takes on measles

Finally Ebola free, Liberia now faces a different outbreak

Liberia, one of Africa’s countries hit hardest by the outbreak of Ebola, is now Ebola free. From the beginning of Ebola until the disease breathed its last, Liberia turned the focus of its entire healthcare system on defeating the outbreak. The country rose to the challenge, throwing the collective efforts of its government and non-government organization partners into the battle. After the country arose victorious against the disease, Liberia was left with an exhausted healthcare system and a new outbreak to battle: measles.

The country’s healthcare system took a huge hit during the Ebola crisis, leaving thousands of children unable to receive routine vaccinations in 2014. Within the past six months, nearly 700 confirmed measles cases have been reported in Liberia.

The country took immediate action in response to the measles outbreak by announcing a nationwide integrated measles and polio vaccination campaign. The campaign commenced on May 8th, 2015. eHealth Africa, alongside UNICEF and the WHO, created strategies and set out across the country to vaccinate as many children as possible during the week long campaign. Depending on what their age allowed, children reached by the campaign were administered measles vaccinations, Oral Polio Vaccinations (OPV), and in addition a Mebendazole tablet prescribed for worms.

eHealth Africa (eHA) specifically contributed to the campaign by providing support through micro-planning, supplies transportation and logistics, social mobilization, monitoring and campaign evaluation. eHA also ensured that motorbikes being used to transport vaccinations to hard-to-reach rural areas were fueledand ready to complete the task at hand.

Because of the master plan and strategy created and implemented by participating organizations, the outcome of the campaign was astounding and exceeded all expectations. Surpassing earlier predictions, the campaign allowed for nearly 800,000 people to receive life-saving vaccinations.

Numbers from the campaign report:

• Total number of children vaccinated for polio through OPV: 689,754 (101%)
• Total number of children vaccinated for measles: 598,251 (98%)
• Total number of children who received the Mebendazole tablet for worms: 515,419 (99%)

Partnership with Ahmadu Bello University

In April, eHealth Africa (eHA) representatives gathered with leaders at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Nigeria for a landmark meeting and signing event. The goal of this meeting was to sign into effect a new partnership. This relationship will lead to eHA internships for ABU students, and will also involve sharing in information and research, enabling both parties to increase research capacity and resources.

The signing ceremony was presided over by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Naiya Sada, who provided opening remarks. ABU GIS Coordinator Mal. Muhammad Tukur Murtala then briefed the audience about the journey that brought the university and eHealth Africa together in this partnership.

eHealth Africa Senior GIS Coordinator Kehinde Adewara had the privilege of highlighting to university representatives and others about milestones we have reached at eHA. This includes the mapping of over ten states in northern Nigeria via satellite imagery, the development of geospatial support systems for tracking projects such as polio vaccinations, and the invention of multiple digital health applications for mobile such as Tag And Go and Sense Ebola Followup

This portion of the presentation was followed up by a discussion on how university students would benefit by interning at eHA:

1. Teaching & Research – The GIS and Research & Evaluation departments at eHealth Africa have a number of research inclined professionals, including Ph.D candidates registered in universities located in Nigeria and around the world. These professionals are proficient in the application of geospatial research skills and can impart years of experience and research with the university research team.

2. Student Industrial Experience – eHealth Africa GIS professionals with years of instructor-led training will provide hands-on training for interns from the university. These skills will benefit the university community, and can provide students a path to immediate employment after graduation.

3. University Asset Management – eHealth Africa can assist relevant university departments by helping develop geospatial support systems for enterprise level management of core university assets.

eHealth Africa is honored to be a part of this prestigious signing event and new partnership with Ahmadu Bello University. We believe this partnership will enable both entities to operate with a higher level of efficiency, provide university students with solid career opportunities, and result in enhancements within digital health that will further the fight against epidemics and disease in Africa.

Annual Report 2014

2014 was a big year at eHealth Africa. As we build momentum on our programs and projects in 2015, we took a step back to reflect on where last year brought us. Working with the very talented Andy Fox, eHealth Africa has just published our first-ever Annual Report, and we’re excited to share it with you. [Click here to read it]

Join us to look back on the remarkable progress we saw in 2014 — from increased momentum and reduced polio cases in Nigeria, our programs to deliver vaccines and essential medicines across Northern Nigeria, and the development of Sense Ebola Followup and the results of this groundbreaking mobile technology on the Ebola epidemic.

We hope that you are just as inspired reading our story as we are in our work every day. Take a look, and share your thoughts and ideas on how to make an impact in the communities we serve every day.

Click here to go read the report