'Africa Health' features eHA's Integrated Community Health Pilot (ICHP) in Guinea

A holistic approach to improving community health in Guinea

This article originally appeared on Africa Health and was written by Taylor M. Snyder, MPH, Senior Technical Advisor, eHealth Africa

eHealth Africa (eHA) is driven by the philosophy that focusing on improving the overall basic standard of healthcare, rather than using a disease-based model of healthcare, can lead to population-wide health improvements that achieve value for money.

eHA Guinea’s Integrated Community Health Pilot (ICHP) implemented connected reforms in order to improve community health at scale through sustainable platforms. ICHP was funded by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and its project realisation phase was less than one year. The Guinean Ministry of Health (MOH) was critical to the project’s success, as they were engaged from ICHP’s onset and selected the subprefecture of Timbi Touni as the pilot’s site. Continuously engaging the Timbi Touni community to collaboratively implement evidence-based and locally-adapted solutions was key to achieving health infrastructure and medical supply improvements, connectivity and the digitisation of health data, and healthcare worker (HCW) capacity building.

To learn more, click here for full report.

Health Camps: Enhancing Access To Healthcare in Kano State

By Daniel Ojabo

Some areas of northern Nigeria still do not have consistent access to healthcare. This is mainly due to the lack of health facilities in remote areas, and the inability of local populations to access transportation to functioning primary healthcare centers.

Health Camps (HC), a demand-creation intervention, was birthed to fill this gap by working with government partners to supplement monthly polio vaccination campaigns (Immunization Plus Days) with essential medicines. It also serves as a means to address persistent cases of refusal of polio vaccines by heads of households.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, eHealth Africa (eHA) has supported the Kano State Ministry of Health as an implementing partner. We procure, package and distribute medications across the 44 Local Government Areas (LGA) in the State.

By the end of 2016, eHA had distributed 82,452 HC boxes across over 27,000 settlements in Kano; up from 34,188 HC boxes delivered in 2014. In September 2016, to ensure that the National Guidelines of Malaria testing before treatment were met, Rapid Diagnostics Test (RDT) Kits were introduced to the HC boxes. RDTs permit a rapid, accurate, and accessible detection of malaria parasites, particularly in remote areas with limited access to health facilities. This exercise has promoted a more rational use of increasingly costly drugs, through enabling health workers to distinguish between fevers caused by malaria parasites from those caused by other illnesses.

“Last year, we recorded increased cases of malaria in the state. So, the Kano State government provided some rapid diagnostic test kits for malaria. ”

— Dr. Kabir Ibrahim Getso, Commissioner For Health, Kano State.

Each HC box contains supplies for 100 people. These supplies include RDTs, and medicines to treat malaria, tapeworms, ulcers, diarrhea, scabies, and other diseases. Trained community health workers administer RDTs for malaria and prescribe corresponding medications. In cases where the diagnosis are advanced, the beneficiaries are referred to the nearest health center.

eHA procures and packages over 2,000 HC boxes for every Immunization Plus Day (IPD) campaign. Since 2014, over 5 million people have benefited from HCs; including 2.2 million children under the age of 5. This initiative has also seen 3.6 million cases of malaria diagnosed and treated, which is around 70 percent of total patients serviced since inception.  

“We found out that a lot of people were voluntarily bringing out their children to accept the vaccination, getting an opportunity to also treat minor ailments which the Health Camps were designed to basically address.”

— Dr. Ahmed Suleiman Haladu, State Lead Polio CDC-NSTOP

After more than two years without wild poliovirus in Nigeria, the Government reported in August 2016 that 2 children had been paralyzed by the disease in the northern Borno state. The cases highlighted the need to prioritize immunization of children particularly, in hard-to-reach areas in northern Nigeria. In the last quarter (Oct. Dec.) of 2016 alone, over 480 thousand children were Immunized with Oral Polio Vaccines (OPV) at HCs. The significant progress and achievements in the past couple of years, have been due to the high level of political commitment and leadership. Traditional community leaders have also provided credibility to the project by openly promoting and encouraging community members to attend HCs.

“We are making all efforts to ensure that the government reaches everywhere for people to understand the mission behind this program.”

— Alhaji Ja’afaru Ahmed Gwarzo, Sarkin Tsafta, Kano Emirate Council.

eHealth Africa Pilots AVADAR Surveillance System to Track Progress Toward Polio Eradication

By Daniel Ojabo

In response to the recently reported cases of wild poliovirus in Nigeria, eHealth Africa (eHA) partnered with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO, and Novel-T to pilot a mobile-based surveillance application  for Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) in children.

Defined by WHO as “a rapid onset of weakness of an individual's extremities”, AFP often causes weakness of the muscles of respiration and swallowing, progressing to maximum severity within 1-10 days. AFP surveillance, being one of the four cornerstone strategies of polio eradication, seeks to identify all cases of polio through a system that targets any case of AFP as a potential case of polio. The surveillance tool is an Auto-Visual AFP Detection and Reporting (AVADAR) mobile application installed on android-enabled mobile devices, provided to Health Workers and Community Informants, to aid in the detection and reporting of AFP cases within health facilities and local communities.

Screenshots of AVADAR Application

According to the project manager, Umar K. Idris, “AVADAR was designed to improve the sensitivity and quality of AFP surveillance, particularly in places with low performance indicators”.

The AVADAR project was piloted on 5 August, 2016 in the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Oyun (Kwara state) and Kuje (FCT, Abuja) for an 8 week period. In Kuje, community informants reported 26 AFP cases within the 8 week period. This was a considerable increase compared to only 23 cases reported in the 33 week period (from January to July 2016) before implementation of the AVADAR pilot. Similarly, in Oyun there were 8 reported AFP cases within the 8 week period (August to October 2016), compared to only 4 reported cases in the 33 week period prior to AVADAR.

Building on the successes achieved, the project was scaled up to include 8 LGAs in Borno state in November 2016, with plans to further expand into other states.

“We are on the verge of expanding into Adamawa, Sokoto and Yobe. We also aim to implement it in the Lake Chad Region (Chad, Cameroon & Niger Republic), post-Ebola countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone), as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in 2017”, Idris said.

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the absence of AFP surveillance provides a gateway for wild poliovirus to continue circulating around the world. Innovations like AVADAR have already  improved the surveillance network by providing health workers and community informants with an active surveillance tool to effectively report suspected AFP cases. The surveillance data will serve as a measure of progress towards polio eradication and allow polio program stakeholders to effectively plan and implement strategies for supplementary immunization activities (e.g. national immunization campaigns).

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeSzp8H0ODQ&w=854&h=480]

To strengthen communication amongst the local health workers and community informants, eHA trained over 800 health workers and provided them with over 800 GPS-enabled smartphones and solar chargers.AVADAR has expanded the surveillance network by bringing in more community informants, health workers and designated health facilities to improve the sensitivity of AFP surveillance amongst surveillance personnel (in terms of timely detection and reporting). The AVADAR software includes an embedded 30-second video of a live child with AFP symptoms having difficulty crawling/walking, as well as an electronic data collection form for submission of detailed information on suspected AFP case patients. This video is sent as a weekly reminder to Health Workers and Community Informants (on their GPS-enabled mobile phones) responsible for reporting all suspected AFP cases in their health facilities and communities.

Combinations that Yield Low Error Rates for Dates on Touchscreen Devices

Project DESTINI - Screen Size vs. Interface vs. Single or Double Data Entry

eHealth Africa (eHA), in partnership with Biostat Global Consulting, conducted a two-day research experiment in September of 2016 at eHA’s headquarters in Kano, Nigeria. The objective of the experiment was to estimate data entry error rates for dates on touchscreen devices (smartphones + tablets) and identify a combination of factors that yield very low error rates (<1%).

eHA hired 24 data collectors who each entered approximately 600 mock vaccination dates from a packet of vaccination cards provided (Figure 1). The data collectors moved through 12 stations and inputted the mock vaccination dates, covering every possible combination of three experimental factors: device (smartphone or tablet); Open Data Kit (ODK) interface (radio button, calendar, or pinwheel); and confirmation protocol (‘double entry with required agreement’ or ‘single entry’).

Error rates varied considerably by participant. Future research is needed to recommend an optimal data entry solution to yield low data entry error rates for dates, but radio buttons are promising. The radio button data entry interface on a smartphone using double entry yielded the lowest mean estimated error rate (2.7%) out of the 12 possible combinations. In contrast, the calendar data entry interface on a smartphone using single entry (no confirmation) yielded the highest mean error rate (9.9%).

“Estimated Error Rates for 12 Experimental Combinations” depicts 95% confidence intervals for two devices (phone and tablet) with three ODK interfaces (radio, wheel, calendar) and data entry protocol (‘no confirmation’ also known as single entry; and ‘double entry’ also known as ‘double entry with required agreement’). Mean error rates per data entry protocol are listed at right for each device and interface combination. The figure indicates the average error rate (5.1%) with a vertical line.  Each two-dimensional distribution is a stack of confidence intervals, from 0.01% confidence at the peak to 95% confidence at the base. The distributions are scaled to have equal area, so the narrow ones are tall and the wide ones are short.

eHA obtained ethical approval from the Kano State Ministry of Health before conducting this experiment. eHA and Biostat Global Consulting presented these research findings at the International Conference on Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation, and Testing (QDET2) in November of 2016.

Error Rates for 12 Experimental Combinations

 

eHealth Africa Launches Vaccine Direct Service in Sokoto State

By Daniel Ojabo

In partnership with the Sokoto State government, eHealth Africa (eHA) just launched a vaccine delivery and immunization campaign to address supply related gaps in Sokoto State, Nigeria.

Recently concluded phase of the Vaccine Direct Delivery (VDD) campaign in Kano State saw over 7 million doses of antigens delivered and 4.6 million children immunized. Building on this success, eHA will be engaging Sokoto State as a third party logistics partner to optimize the timely delivery of vaccines and routine immunization supplies across all 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.

According to the VDD Project Manager Adamu Lawan, “eHA is contracted to deliver vaccines to health facilities at the wards across all 23 LGAs in the state.”

VDD will be implemented to support demand creation activities and address supply related factors on routine immunization uptake. It will provide a reliable vaccine delivery service for state Primary Health Care (PHCs) facilities in the state, allowing them to run monthly Immunization Plus Days (IPDs) in addition to regular vaccination clinics for children under five.

“eHA is contracted to deliver vaccines to health facilities at the wards across all 23 LGAs in the state.

- Adamu Lawan, Project Manager

”

The project, which kicked off on 13th December of 2016, is expected to run for 12 months and work with over 80 (PHCs) in Sokoto State. Health facilities will be clustered by Wards/LGAs in order to examine the effect of demand creation against improved supply over a 6-month period.

“Part of the mandate is also to help collect sharp and other wastes from the health facilities we make deliveries to, and deliver back to the cold stores,” Lawan added.

Several immunization programs across all 36 Nigerian states have seen a steady increase in vaccination coverage over the past decade. According to a 2014 report by the National Population Commission (NPC) of Nigeria and ICF Macro, full vaccination coverage of children aged 12-23 months was highest in Imo State (62.4%) and lowest in Sokoto State (1.4%).

The project will monitor and inform eHA, the Sokoto State government, and other stakeholders on the effect of improved vaccine delivery on childhood routine immunization in Sokoto State. The results of these research activities are expected to present an overall picture of the extent to which improving vaccine supply chain affects routine immunization coverage in Sokoto.

eHA will engage the state government through Routine Immunization officers who will track demand creation activities in their health facilities. Current routine immunization coverage information in Sokoto will also be documented using a desk review and analysis of District Health Information System (DHIS2) data. This research will be used to create a benchmark for evaluating the expected outcome of improving vaccine supply chain and delivery in Sokoto.

Meet the Staff - Israel Kollie

Israel launched his career with eHealth Africa’s  Liberia office (eHA-L) more than 2 years ago, at the height of Liberia’s Ebola outbreak and in the fledgling days of our Monrovia-based operations.

Eager to do his part to slow the devastating spread of the virus, Israel signed up as an eHealth Africa volunteer. Capitalizing on his data entry and analysis skills, Israel trained staff at the National Ebola Call Center and Island Clinic, contributing to the launch of electronic sample reporting systems (a giant leap beyond the clinics’ previous paper-based records).

Given his success as a Data System Trainer, Israel was quickly offered an employment contract and became eHA-L’s inaugural Information Systems team member. New responsibilities led to valuable learning opportunities for Israel. Only months later, Israel’s supervisor identified that he possessed the qualities of a systems engineer, and he eagerly accepted a promotion to Junior Software Developer.

“My skills have grown more quickly than I would ever have imagined,” said Israel. From volunteer to trainer to eHA-Liberia’s newest professional developer, Israel’s career trajectory is certainly on the rise.

From entering data and upgrading Excel files and Google sheets, Israel now contributes to an Interoperable Health Information System. The system is the first of its kind, and it will allow disease surveillance data to be shared across the Liberian government’s sub-systems. The system’s implications are staggering in terms of policy-making capacities for Liberia’s Ministry of Health. They greatly improve early disease detection capabilities, which would be extremely valuable in the event of another outbreak.

Israel has played an integral role in the prevention of future disease outbreaks in Liberia by helping revolutionize paper-based sample collection methods, digitizing lab reporting, and launching state-of-the-art disease surveillance systems.

After two years on the Information Systems team, Israel conveys his pride to be part of eHA-L. During the outbreak, Israel was eager to be one of the “frontliners” in the fight against Ebola.

“I was always proud every time I received a call from other partners for eHA to intervene using tech devices in the response,” Israel said. “This demonstrated that eHA was doing something worthwhile”, he added.

Israel has already been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for exemplary volunteer service, as well as by local media outlets for his contribution to his country’s health systems. In addition to working with eHA-L full time, Israel attends courses every evening and is well on his way to becoming a professional systems engineer. eHA-L is proud to have such a dedicated individual on our team.

“My responsibilities have opened my eyes to something new. I don’t think I can be more motivated than this any time soon.” - Israel

They Thought We Were Flowers, But We Were Actually Seeds

By Taylor Snyder

When eHA-Guinea’s (eHA-G) staff first arrived in the village of Saran, they found the valley landscape to be lush, with an abundance of crops growing in wide varieties. It was October of 2015, and many women in the village were out in the fields tending to their potatoes, which were being grown in tiny individual plots of land. While connecting with the community on ways to collaborate toward strengthening their district health posts, eHA-G’s staff was inspired to also leverage their experience supporting female entrepreneurship.

eHA-G’s staff described to several village women how they could combine their small plots of potatoes into one larger vegetable plot, in order to increase revenues and simultaneously decrease the amount of time they spent working in the field. The women followed that technical advice and expanded it further by forming a cooperative, combining plots of land, working together in the field, and diversifying their crops beyond potatoes to include ginger and cabbage. This dynamic cooperative commenced in February of 2016 and is now composed of 20 smart, joyful, and dedicated women.

Working together and employing several of their natural leadership skills is saving these women time, earning them more money, and creating a team culture where they count on each other. When they were working individually, they only earned a small amount of revenue. As a result of the new cooperative, they currently have 1 million GNF in their bank account and another 600,000 GNF ready to be deposited.

From the income earned, the cooperative reinvests in buying additional crops, shares some of the profit for their own personal needs, and put the remaining balance in their cooperative’s bank account. The women previously worked with the “federation paysanne,” but are now leveraging the talents of one woman’s bookkeeping skills to manage their finances independently.

Four growing seasons of experience has lead to the cooperatives’ creation of a working schedule that achieves both their cultivation and lifestyle goals. Three days a week, they gather early in the morning to work together in the fields. While most of women are in the field, they designate two women to cook a meal for the entire team and their families.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4eFScPbpZE?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0&w=640&h=360]

A major setback occurred last season when, due to heavy rain, their entire agricultural production was lost. The ramifications of the lost crops meant that the group lost food sources and income. Yet, the major outcome was that it reinforced the cooperative’s mission. They realized that by working and saving money together, what could have been devastating losses to individuals was just a small setback for the larger team. 

Supporting Health Workers at the Frontline of Disease Outbreak Prevention

November is typically a time of remembrance. Here in Sierra Leone, the memories hit close to home as the country marked the one year anniversary of the end of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak. The resilience of the local communities is represented in the high EVD survival rates and support from government and partner organizations.

The EVD outbreak was characterized by acute challenges in field epidemiology, disease management, and disease control. Health worker education, training, and capacity building is one component essential to establishing holistic and effective disease management.

eHA Sierra Leone (eHA-SL) organizes rolling field epidemiology training programs (FETP) for district surveillance officers (DSOs) across the country. Through the support of funding from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FETP program is hosted by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) and facilitated by African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) experts.

Every three months, the Frontline FETP trains new groups of approximately 20 public health staff in disease surveillance best practices. Participants are geographically diverse, and include participation from the national level and all 14 districts. From routine health data collection and recognition of exceptional symptoms to developing case profiles using the 5Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and creating action plans, the surveillance officers are oriented and guided through data-driven decision making.

The programs includes three months of classroom sessions and field-level application. Following two weeks of workshop sessions, up to nine weeks are spent conducting field projects which enables students to practice, implement, and reinforce what they have learned. These projects include creating reports with summary tables and charts of the surveillance data routinely collected at their particular agencies. In addition, DSOs conduct monitoring, evaluation, and feedback of surveillance activities at various health reporting sites. They also have the opportunity to perform a health problem analysis and participating in a mock case or outbreak investigation.

By the end of the quarter, the DSOs are well positioned to engage in more informed practice and decision-making to investigate, identify, and thwart future disease threats. Due to the rolling nature of the program, eHA and partners are able to train public health staff from across the country regularly. With this momentum in health worker training, over the next year the fortitude and capability of the health workforce will expand to champion disease outbreak in the Sierra Leone.

Using Tech to Save Lives in Sierra Leone

Captivated audience

eHA SL Senior Software Developer, Jasper Timm

eHealth Africa (eHA) is often described as an organization which provides technological solutions to strengthen health systems. But what about the “e” in eHA? At the heart of the electronic systems are dynamic software solutions developed and managed by our global health informatics team.

In a quest to highlight achievements, share current projects, and inspire the emerging tech community, eHA’s Sierra Leone’s Information Systems Information Systems team led a “Hacks/Hackers Meetup” in Freetown this November. Hosted by local collective “Sensi Tech Innovation Hub,” the event brought together a mix of technology enthusiasts and software coders with a passion for health.

eHA disease surveillance software

Team Manager Manuel Loistl and Senior Software Developer Jasper Timm spoke to a packed house about the Information System team’s role in a variety of eHA activities. This included an overview of: how eHA created mobile applications to track Ebola patients and potential patients during the Ebola outbreak and established the 117 emergency call center’s digital interfaces to connect health workers across all regions of Sierra Leone. Currently, the team is customizing DHIS2 software into a disease surveillance system for Sierra Leone, as well as supporting software modifications in a new partnership with VaxTrac. Additionally, Jasper covered important Information Systems processes and systems necessary to generate high-quality digital solutions to meet Sierra Leone’s unique health needs.

Excitement was in the air as many participants stayed after the presentations to engage with the team and play with demos of various software solutions created for different eHA initiatives.

For future opportunities with eHA Sierra Leone’s Information Systems team, please visit our careers webpage(under Informatics). Follow us for more coverage of similar events via Twitter and Facebook.

Thinking Pink and Giving Back

Who says the weekend’s for sleeping in? On Saturday, November 5th the eHealth Africa (eHA) Sierra Leone team laced up their sneakers to participate in the 3rd annual Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation mini-marathon fundraiser.

In recognition of international breast cancer awareness month in October, the run brought together athletes, breast cancer survivors, family members, and the international community. The funds provide care for women unable to afford expensive medication, treatments and procedures. eHA is proud to have participated in a signature community event which motivates health-consciousness and the importance of physical activity.

Some ran, some walked, and some crawled, but nearly ½ of the eHA Sierra Leone office participated in the event and met triumphantly at the finish line. Congratulations to all participants for taking part in such a worthy cause!

Exciting New Partnership to Strengthen Child Immunization in Sierra Leone

Remember eHA’s participation in Sierra Leone's national polio campaign?

More than simply a community exercise, this event served as an important stepping stone toward the launch of an exciting new initiative to strengthen children’s health in Sierra Leone.

eHA is proud to announce its new partnership with VaxTrac, an innovative organization which provides technologies to maximize the effectiveness of vaccination programs in developing countries. Between now and May 2017, partners will collaborate with the Child Health Division at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) to implement an electronic registry for children’s immunization throughout Sierra Leone.  

“eHA is excited to collaborate with MoHS and VaxTrac to implement a biometric immunization record system. We believe this project will lead to a higher number of children finishing their vaccination plans, as well as establish a robust immunization record system for Sierra Leone.” - Evelyn Castle, Executive Director and Co-Founder of eHealth Africa

Read the full announcement on VaxTrac’s website!

Digitizing Healthcare in Underserved Communities

See event photos below, and read an informative report on this incredible event held this month in Berlin.

Click here to read the full report. 

eHA Sierra Leone Joins The Campaign Against Polio

This year the eHA Sierra Leone team joined the national polio campaign as it kicked off throughout Freetown. The team visited the Murray Town community where the local Public Health Unit (PHU) was prepared to complete an extensive immunization hoping to reach all community children under the age of five.

This meant not only making home visits to families with trained nurse practitioners to provide medicine and document the process, but also touring schools as a strategic measure to reach as many children as possible. Our team witnessed health workers in communicate, organize, deliver and record their immunization activities within their communities using traditional pen and paper. 

eHA already has a long and successful track record digitizing the aspects of Nigeria’s polio emergency response activities. Now, after the Sierra Leone event, the knowledge and exposure to these and similar types of immunization campaigns is spreading across the organization. As eHA continues to support routine immunization and rapid, real-time disease surveillance, our teams across West Africa will seek to increase their skills and expertise to design effective and user-friendly tools which mirror and simplify the work for health care workers. These efforts will contribute directly to a community’s ability to track its health status and make informed decisions to improve its overall wellbeing.

Disrupting at the "Health Meets Tech" Conference

eHealth Africa’s (eHA) Executive Director and Co-Founder Adam Thompson participated in the second edition of the Future of Health Conference themed “Health meets Tech” organized by Nigeria Health Watch, which took place on September 22, 2016, in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The conference brought together stakeholders from both health and technology spheres to collaboratively discuss on ways to improve the health sector in Nigeria through the use of technology. The discussions were categorized into three sessions: Leaders, Game Changers, and Disrupters.

‘The Leaders’ session featured decision makers from the public and private sectors who highlighted the ideas and inspired thinking of a unique generation of bright minds and leaders in the health sector. The second session tagged ‘The Game Changers’ featured a unique set of health entrepreneurs who have made significant transformative contributions to the sector using technology.

The final session tagged ‘The Disrupters’ featured the pace-setters who already have ignited the change discussed in the health sector by using technology to overcome tough challenges and inspire action. eHA was one of the six ‘disrupters’ identified to participate in this session.

In his presentation titled ‘The Use of Technology to Improve Efficiency of Healthcare Delivery in Some of the Toughest Areas in Nigeria’, Adam gave an overview of the various projects implemented by eHA, with emphases on Disease Surveillance and Emergency Preparedness & Response. His talk highlighted the changes enabled by the Polio Emergency Operation Centers in Nigeria, and described the successes based on the synchronization of infrastructure, partnerships, and data, which together can be leveraged to drive more informed action and achieve greater impact.

Future Resilient Farming Systems for the Semi-Arid West and Central Africa

Our Nigeria office in Kano State recently hosted a team of international delegates who were in Kano State for a three-day international workshop titled "Future Resilient Farming Systems for the Semi-Arid West and Central Africa." The workshop was organized by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). ICRISAT facilitated the workshop in collaboration with eHealth Africa (eHA), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and Bayero University Kano State.

The visiting group of delegates was made up of representatives from nine countries, led by ICRISAT Nigeria’s Country Representative Dr. Ajeigbe Hakeem.

Also present at the event:

• Professor Anthony Whitbread, Research Program Director of Innovation Systems for Drylands

• From India: Dr. Ramadjita Tabo, Regional Director for West and Central Africa

• From Zimbabwe: ICRISAT’s Dr. Sabine Homann-Kee Tui, Social Scientist for Crop-Livestock Systems

eHealth Africa’s Associate Director of Programs Anu Parvatiyar and others from the eHA team welcomed the international delegates. Parvatiyar gave a presentation that provided the visitors with an overview of eHA, followed by a presentation on Nutrition and Food Security given by eHA’s Program Manager Dr. Sarma Mallubhotla. After presentations and discussions, the visitors also had the opportunity to tour eHA’s main campus and explore projects currently in the works.

Dr. Tabo said that given the impact achieved by eHealth Africa on healthcare in Nigeria, he is hoping that both organizations will continue to explore areas of collaboration to dramatically increase what is accomplished going forward.

Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics

eHealth Africa (eHA) participated in the Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics, held from August 29th to August 31st in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was organized by the Georgia Tech Center for Health and Humanitarian  Systems.

The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for the discussion of challenges and solutions in disaster preparedness and response, long-term development and humanitarian aid, and global health delivery. The conference was focused on transforming global health and humanitarian systems, and included plenary panels, interactive workshops and poster sessions.

MOVE and Vaccine Direct Delivery, logistics management information tools used to support health commodity supply chains in vulnerable communities in Nigeria, were featured in a poster booth and presented during the Technology Exhibit by Adam Thompson, Executive Director of eHA.

STRIVE: Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola

In 2014, eHealth Africa was approached by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assist in the implementation of the first ever clinical trial in Sierra Leone. The clinical trial was to test a vaccine against the Ebola Virus Disease. At the time Sierra Leone was facing a deadly Ebola outbreak that gripped the nation. Combined with cases in neighboring Liberia and Guinea, the epidemic had already become the worst ever recorded in history. The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared an international public health emergency, and Sierra Leone declared a national state of emergency. In a health care system already lacking adequate staffing, health care workers and frontline workers were at extreme risk for contracting the disease.

In partnership with the CDC, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) and clinical leadership from the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), eHealth Africa led the operations for the Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine against Ebola (STRIVE).

In the end, STRIVE enrolled and vaccinated over 8,000 health care and front line workers. 350+ Sierra Leonean clinicians were trained to enroll, vaccinate, and provide surveillance, also building a functioning cold chain to support -80 degree centigrade temperatures to keep the vaccine viable.

Here are some of the innovations eHealth Africa facilitated for the SRIVE program.

-       A mobile electronic participant registration system

-       A toll free line hosted by a 24-hour call center for participants enrolled in the trial

-       Operations and logistics support to the seven enrollment and vaccination sites

-       Renovation of the enrollment and vaccination sites prior to opening

-       Contract creation with hospitals around the country to provide free medical care to 8000+ enrolled participants for the duration of the trial

A unique strength of eHealth Africa (eHA) is our ability to maintain innovation during times of crisis, using these innovations to assist response efforts. Software developments that were used for the vaccine trial were also adapted for the larger Ebola response in Sierra Leone. In the post-Ebola outbreak phase, eHA is looking to apply these innovations to the national recovery plan. This will be done by building capacity in mortality and disease surveillance, patient medical records in hospitals, using biometrics to monitor child immunization campaigns, and maintaining extreme temperatures in cold chains to keep life saving vaccines.

A major benefit of STRIVE is providing a wealth of information on the safety profile of an Ebola Vaccine. Additionally, 8000+ health care workers were able to access the vaccine during an Ebola outbreak. These are major steps towards licensure and preventing devastating Ebola outbreaks in the futur

For eHealth Africa, it was highly valuable to participate as a major partner in the implementation of STRIVE. Our participation not only built up our own capacity as an organization, but allowed us to develop innovative tools that are now being used in the post-Ebola response, building back health systems that are now stronger and more accessible to Sierra Leoneans. 

eHA Supports Polio Outbreak Response Campaign

In response to the two wild poliovirus cases detected in Borno State in August 2016, the first outbreak response campaign is set to run from August 27-30 in five Northern states.

eHealth Africa will be providing support for the campaign by supplying over 8000 GPS-enabled mobile devices to field vaccination teams to enable the collection of geo-coordinate information on settlements reached during their house-to-house visits. To provide technical field support, eHA has deployed over 70 field staff to 37 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the five Northern states.

Data collected by the vaccination teams will be uploaded onto a local server to enable key health administrators and partners, at the LGA and state level, to visualize the data collected from the daily field activities on the Vaccination Tracking System (VTS) dashboard. From the results, polio program stakeholders will be able to see the percentage of geo-coverage achieved and most importantly, the number of missed settlements that will require follow-up visits. This information will help stakeholders make timely and better-informed decisions to ensure all eligible children in the regions are immunized with the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).  

Global Health Security - Focus Africa

In order to facilitate a productive exchange among the global health community in Berlin, on June 30, 2016, eHealth Africa hosted a discussion event dedicated to Global Health Security – Focus Africa. he event aimed to address questions on possible pandemic outbreaks in Africa and Europe, methods of containment, and learnings from previous pandemics.

See pictures from the event below, and click here to read the full event report from Berlin. 

eHA Global Informatics Team Trains Delegates From Nigeria's Ministry of Health

On Friday the 12th of July, eHealth Africa (eHA) hosted and trained a six person team from the Federal Ministry of Health’s Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) department on application of open source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for public health interventions.

The Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) programme of the Federal Ministry of Health is focused on addressing neglected diseases consisting of Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, leprosy, guinea worms, and many others. Their goal is to reduce morbidity, disability, and mortality caused by these diseases through the control and eradication of NTDs using cost effective approaches. The objective of the NTD team is to enhance monitoring and evaluation, surveillance and operations research in order to strengthen government ownership, advocacy, coordination and partnerships as well.

To foster the enhancement of monitoring, evaluation and surveillance, the Ministry of Health’s NTD department received training from eHA department staff on basic guidelines regarding the use of QGIS, a free and open source Geographic Information System software.

The QGIS training was a one day training which covered the introduction of geospatial technologies, applications for public health, installation of QGIS, interface and plugins, working with datasets, data manipulation and analysis, map creation and embellishment, and a practical session on map design and production.                                      

The training was led by eHA’s GIS Architect and Department Lead Samuel Aiyeoribe, along with Ayodele Adeyemo, the Assistant Geospatial Analyst. These facilitators commenced the training following an overview of our organization presented by Health Delivery Systems Program Manager Wynfred Russell. The director of the Ministry of Health Director Mrs. Ifeoma Anagbagu also gave an overview about their organization, and an introduction to NTDs. Anagbagu shared how impressed she was by what was learned and the skills acquired from the training.

“I coordinated the Guinea Worm eradication program in 2007, and at that time we used HealthMapper for mapping and analysis of the the data. But from what I learned today, this goes beyond the Guinea Worm eradication program. We are looking forward to doing so much with the knowledge received here.” - Ifeoma Anagbagu, Ministry of Health Director

The NTD team as a whole was excited and satisfied with the training, and we were honored to hand them certificates for completing the training successfully.