Cambodia 115 Hotline
Free-to-the-public disease hotline in Cambodia that participants can use to report disease information by voice and keypad entry
Launched in 2016, Cambodia 115 Hotline is a free-to-the-public disease hotline developed to help improve the timeliness and completeness of disease reporting by provincial health offices to central authorities in Cambodia. Built with the interactive voice response tool Verboice, anyone with a phone or mobile network can report disease information to the Cambodia CDC by dialing 115 using voice or keypad entry.
The hotline is exceptionally valuable to frontline health workers responsible for reporting infectious disease information on a weekly basis. Since the hotline was built using open-source technology, it provides a model that can be quickly replicated and adapted by other countries for similar participatory disease reporting enhancement.
- Cambodia Center for Disease Control (CDC)
- Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters (InSTEDD)
Cambodia FeedAlert System
Surveillance tool that promotes digital disease detection through monitoring media sources
Launched in 2015 to promote digital disease detection, the Cambodia FeedAlert System is a surveillance tool that helps the Cambodian Ministry of Health overcome information overload by addressing two key challenges: monitoring media sources for new keyword-based updates and sending regular notifications.
The Cambodia FeedAlert System notified the Cambodia CDC of a pig-related disease before the province received its staff report.
- Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters (InSTEDD)
- Cambodia Center for Disease Control (CDC)
CDC CARE (Check and Report Ebola) Hotline
Monitoring approach designed to allow travelers to report their health status daily to an interactive voice recognition system
CDC CARE Hotline was an approach to monitoring designed to allow travelers to report their health status daily to an interactive voice recognition system (IVR). The IVR solution was piloted with CDC federal employees who returned from deployments to countries with Ebola outbreaks during the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The system designed used open source tools from InSTEDD, Verboice for IVR, and mBuilder for SMS. These tools were packaged together and used to facilitate CDC employees’ adherence to daily reporting requirements. The packaged technologies are easily adaptable and can be modified for future emergency responses, contact investigations, or routine monitoring for public health protections.
CDC CARE Hotline sought to promote behavior change in the form of facilitating traveler adherence to post-arrival monitoring requirements for potential Ebola symptoms, decrease the time to detection and time for response for potential cases of Ebola, and to develop an adaptable reporting system that could be adjusted to a jurisdiction’s needs. The project demonstrated the ability to quickly and easily design and deploy a robust reporting system that was able to detect and follow-up with potential cases. According to CDC surveys of participating CDC employees, results indicated that users became more familiar with and found the system easier to use over the course of their monitoring period. Most users were highly satisfied with the IVR system and would recommend it for future monitoring efforts. Additionally, the costs associated with developing and implementing the IVR were documented.
- Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters (InSTEDD)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ)
Community-Based Disease Outbreak Detection and Response in Eastern and Southern Africa (DODRES)
Two-way communication mechanism for health systems and community members to share timely health surveillance data
Launched in 2015, Community-Based Disease Outbreak Detection and Response in Eastern and Southern Africa (DODRES) addresses the challenges of delayed feedback in the traditional human and animal health infectious disease surveillance systems. DODRES originated from EpiHack Tanzania.
Through the establishment of AfyaData, a two-way communication mechanism for health systems and community members to share timely health surveillance data, pastoralist Masai communities in the border regions of Kenya and Tanzania can use the AfyaData mobile tool to report health events from their community to district-level surveillance systems.
- South African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS)
- National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania (NIMR)
- Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters (InSTEDD)
- Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)
- Narok County Government, Kenya
Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance (CORDS)
Six disease surveillance networks working across national borders to tackle emerging infectious diseases
Established in 2012, Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance (CORDS) is an informal governance cooperative of six regional disease surveillance networks working across national borders to tackle emerging infectious diseases. Each regional network is an alliance of neighboring countries that are taking a unified approach to pandemic preparedness. CORDS aims to improve global capacity to respond to infectious diseases through four strategic objectives: improving capacity, advancing One Health, promoting innovation, and building sustainable networks.
CORDS facilitates sharing case studies, technical expertise, data, best practices, and resources to help networks and their member countries develop new skills and build operational partnerships across regions. CORDS seeks to modernize disease surveillance by improving coordination among animal, human, and environmental sectors at national, regional, and international levels. CORDS serves as a venue for networks to share their innovative ideas and approaches to disease surveillance, and it also provides an organized platform for co-development of new technologies and innovations within and across regions. CORDS works to strengthen multi‐country disease surveillance networks and facilitate the creation of sustainable new networks in areas of high disease risk by providing educational materials, success stories, progress reports, and other information to networks that they can use with their respective ministries to demonstrate the value of multi-country networks.
Continuous Surveillance Systems and Electronic Medical Record Integration in Nepal
Surveillance system that uses digital health data to identify, monitor, and respond to diarrheal diseases and respiratory illnesses
Launched in 2016, Continuous Surveillance System and Electronic Medical Record Integration in Nepal uses digital health data and a mobile-based household survey to identify, monitor, and respond to illnesses identified at a facility or through community interactions at the household level. The system is expanding in Dolakha and Achham and Community Health Workers are now using fingerprinting while enrolling community members. The information collected feeds back to healthcare workers and the government, providing critical surveillance data to shorten both the detection timeline and the time for response.
The Continuous Surveillance System improves epidemic response by public health officials and health workers. The project also aims to validate integrated electronic medical records as capable of creating accurate surveillance data from syndromic and diagnostic information collected at the point of care.
- Possible
- Ministry of Health, Nepal
- Simprints
- Dimagi
- ThoughtWorks
DoctorMe
Mobile application promoting good health care and first aid in Thailand through participatory surveillance
Launched in 2011, DoctorMe was the first mobile application for health in Thailand on iOS and Android systems. DoctorMe aims to promote good health care and first aid in Thailand. In 2014, DoctorMe incorporated participatory surveillance into the app via a “health diary” function, enabling daily user engagement via an avatar that acts as a user’s virtual friend. Data reported to DoctorMe is available on Sick Sense.
DoctorMe is the most popular digital personal health care system in Thailand. More than 810,000 users have installed DoctorMe on their smartphones.
- Opendream
- Thai Health Promotion Foundation
- Folk Doctor Foundation
- ChangeFusion
Engaging Government and Community Health Workers for Improving Vector Borne Disease Control in Pakistan
Project engaging the government and community health workers to improve vector borne disease control in Pakistan
Engaging Government and Community Health Workers for Improving Vector Borne Disease Control in Pakistan works to improve the operational capacity of the health services in Pakistan for the surveillance and control of Vector-Borne Diseases (VBD) using the One Health approach. The project builds on the recommendations from a multidimensional, Leishmanias is Disease Gap Analysis Study to improve vector borne disease control using by engaging the government and community health workers.
Engaging Government and Community Health Workers for Improving Vector Borne Disease Control in Pakistan aims to enhance epidemiological capacity in four priority districts, improve the rates of VBD disease detection and reporting, and promote risk awareness and the adoption of risk reduction measures in at-risk populations.
- Pak One Health Alliance
EpiCore
Virtual community of health professionals using innovative surveillance methods to verify infectious disease outbreaks
Founded in 2013, EpiCore is a virtual community of health professionals using innovative surveillance methods to verify infectious disease outbreaks. EpiCore draws on the skills and knowledge of trained human, animal, and environmental health professionals around the world to provide epidemic intelligence and verify outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. EpiCore has recruited more than 1,600 qualified health professionals from more than 130 countries to provide information from their regions. On average, at least one request for information is sent per day to members in geographic proximity to verify an outbreak or a suspected outbreak.
With its geographical distribution of members and high response rate, EpiCore is poised to enable faster verification of a potential outbreak. By detecting outbreaks faster, health officials generate early responses that can curb epidemics and save lives.
- HealthMap
- ProMED-mail
- Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET)
EpiCrowd
Symposium on digital disease detection during mass gatherings in Recife, Brazil
Held in Recife, Brazil, in 2015, EpiCrowd was a symposium on digital disease detection at mass gatherings. The event convened a group of technologists, epidemiologists, and ministry of health officials from 13 countries to explore how participatory surveillance tools can be used at mass gatherings.
EpiCrowd supported the ongoing development and improvement of the Guardians of Health application and preparation for the development of the Olympics tool interface. The event created opportunities and new platforms to fight epidemics during mass gatherings and fostered a community of epidemiology and information technology experts to collaborate and advance digital disease detection tools, as well as participatory surveillance systems in Brazil and globally.
- Epitrack
EpiHack™
Intensive workshops that bring together developers and health professionals to improve specific issues around infectious diseases
An EpiHack™ is a three-to-six-day intensive workshop that brings software developers and health professionals together to create, adapt, and improve technologies that address specific issues around infectious diseases, such as disease surveillance. To date, Ending Pandemics has supported twelve EpiHacks across five continents with various partner organizations. Our website www.epihack.org features in-depth training materials for those engaged in organizing or facilitating an EpiHack event.
EpiHacks have resulted in the development of a variety of digital disease detection tools such as the Participatory One Health Digital Disease Detection (PODD) tool in Thailand, Larvae Survey Tools in Laos, the AfyaData mobile tools in Tanzania and Kenya, and the Guardians of Health participatory surveillance tool in Brazil. Over 500 health and technology professionals have engaged in EpiHack events to create and improve disease surveillance tools in partnership with host organizations such as Ministries of Health, Universities, and NGOs.
- Business on Network
Event-Based Surveillance Training
Event-based surveillance training program for public health emergency operations center personnel
Launched in 2016, Event-Based Surveillance Training develops training materials for public health emergency operations center personnel on how to conduct event-based surveillance (EBS).
Event-Based Surveillance Training aims to provide partner countries with practical, field-tested training and planning tools to help national authorities implement EBS and use epidemic intelligence for early warning. Ultimately, the project will strengthen capacities to detect and respond rapidly to outbreaks and other acute health events. Event-Based Surveillance Training was piloted in three countries: Cambodia, Uganda, and Vietnam.
- Center for Global Health Science and Security, Georgetown University
Flu Near You
Smartphone application and web tool for reporting and monitoring influenza-like illnesses
Established in 2011, Flu Near You, now Outbreaks Near Me, is an online participatory surveillance tool used to track influenza-like illnesses in the United States and Canada. Any individual, 13 years of age or older, living in the United States or Canada can register to complete brief weekly surveys and report their flu symptoms online or through the Flu Near You smartphone application. Collected data helps map influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and provides a collective understanding of the flu at local, state, regional, and national levels.
The tool demonstrated a high degree of correlation with the CDC’s Influenza-Like Illness Network (ILINet) surveillance system in both timing and magnitude of ILI rates. During the 2015–16 influenza season, a prototype dashboard was created for public health departments and researchers to track ILI locally. The Skoll Global Threats Fund (SGTF) hosted two EpiHacks, EpiHack™ Denver in 2016 and EpiHack™ Minneapolis in 2015, analyzing how best to use and integrate Flu Near You data into public health department workflows across the United States.
- HealthMap
- Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)
- Food Protection and Defense Institute, University of Minnesota
- National Association of City & County Health Officials (NACCHO)
Guardians of Health
Disease surveillance mobile app to report outbreaks in real time
Started in 2015, Guardians of Health is a mobile application for everyday disease surveillance in Brazil. Guardians of Health was created for daily surveillance and later adapted for users to report symptoms during mass gatherings to identify outbreaks in real time. The app also provides helpful health tips and easy location of health care clinics and pharmacies.
Guardians of Health was used during the 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics in Brazil. The project introduced a new disease surveillance strategy and a novel approach in Brazil, applying a mobile technology tool to report diseases, bringing together the government, private, and non-governmental sectors in close, inclusive partnership.
- Epitrack
- ProEpi-Associação Brasileira de Profissionais de Epidemiologia de Campo
- Ministry of Health, Brazil
I-Lab in Senegal
Initiative to digitize laboratory data in Senegal for faster detection and response to biothreats and pandemics
Launched in 2015, I-Lab in Senegal is an initiative to digitize laboratory data in Senegal. The initiative uses mobile phone technologies and web platforms to transfer epidemiological data from laboratories across Senegal, facilitating faster detection and response to biothreats and pandemics.
I-Lab in Senegal aids epidemiological surveillance in West Africa by reducing insufficient laboratory results reporting by providing automated tools for collecting laboratory data. The initiative engages public and private laboratories in Senegal to report weekly on 12 different diseases: viral hemorrhagic fevers, malaria, schistosomiasis, meningitis, yellow fever, shigellosis, cholera, poliomyelitis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), measles, and tuberculosis. When piloted, the automated mobile reporting system successfully returned complete, timely, and quality data. I-Lab is currently being integrated in 120 laboratories across Senegal.
- Fondation Mérieux USA
- Fondation Mérieux
- PATH
- Senegalese Laboratory Directorate
International Workshops on Participatory Surveillance (IWOPS)
International workshops to advance self-reported participatory surveillance for influenza and other diseases
International Workshops on Participatory Surveillance (IWOPS) were launched to advance self-reported participatory surveillance for influenza and other diseases. IWOPS enabled leaders implementing participatory surveillance systems from around the world to come together as a community to help increase global usage and best practices of participatory tools for disease detection and engagement in participatory surveillance systems.
Learn about our upcoming 4th International Workshop on Participatory Surveillance scheduled for fall 2022 in Cambodia.
- Influenzanet
- Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), University of Newcastle, Australia
Kidenga
Participatory surveillance mobile application to track dengue, chikungunya, and Zika along the United States and Mexican border
Launched in September 2016, Kidenga is a mobile application to help track symptoms of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika along the United States and Mexican border and other areas in the southern continental United States. The Kidenga app asks users to fill out a weekly survey of symptoms, as well as healthcare-seeking behavior, prior travel, and mosquito activity around their household. Reported data is used to help identify syndromes consistent with dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and mosquito activity.
The purpose of the Kidenga app is to create a bidirectional data exchange between users and Kidenga. The tool will provide users with the most current data from the public health department about confirmed cases in their area and providing, prevention, and control strategies at individual, household, and community levels. Following the launch, there was significant media interest and an uptick in user interest. As of October 2016, approximately 700 users downloaded the app.
- Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Larvae Survey Tools in Laos
Digital survey tool to strengthen dengue and mosquito-borne illness control in Lao PDR
The Larvae Survey Tools in Laos project seeks District Health Office officials in the Vientiane Capital to enter paper reporting received from the village level into a digital reporting tool. The project resulted from EpiHack™ Laos.
The project will strengthen control of dengue and mosquito-borne illnesses in Lao PDR and improve the timely reporting of mosquito larvae. The tool will launch in the capital and scaled countrywide.
- Innovative Support to Emergencies Diseases and Disasters (InSTEDD)
- Ministry of Health, Lao PDR
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Surveillance Project
Project improving MERS-CoV detection capabilities among laboratories in MECIDS countries
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) Surveillance Project develops active surveillance networks, performs seroepidemiological studies, and exchanges surveillance data among Israel, Jordan, and Palestine.
This surveillance project seeks to improve detection capabilities among laboratories in MECIDS countries, harmonize laboratory surveillance for MERS-CoV, and contribute to the development of more robust surveillance capabilities to proactively detect, verify, and monitor MERS-CoV in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.
- Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS)
- Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance (CORDS)
Outbreak Surveillance by Community Health Workers in Uganda
Community-based outbreak surveillance system using community health workers in Uganda
The Outbreak Surveillance by Community Health Workers in Uganda project develops a community-based outbreak surveillance system for community health workers in the Living Goods network in Uganda using Medic Mobile’s existing open-source, offline-enabled mobile app. Community health workers are trained to identify symptoms for epidemic-prone illnesses such as measles, meningitis, VHF, cholera, and AFP.
The envisioned system will facilitate door-to-door outbreak surveillance, provide decision support for CHWs and families, and enable rapid reporting of potential outbreaks and automate sharing of surveillance data with health authorities. The project also builds the capacity of community health workers to implement and manage surveillance systems. Through this effort the project aims to create global and regional reference sites and to serve as a case study for other community health worker programs.
- Medic Mobile
- Living Goods
Outbreak Timeliness Measures
Various projects around the world to quantify time to detection of various diseases
The Outbreak Timeliness Measures projects support the measurement of the timeliness of outbreak detection, verification, and response (along with other associated measures) and seek to empower this type of measurement in all countries.
Rather than use these data to evaluate performance against neighboring countries or other regions, nations that undertake the effort to establish their own time-to-detection baseline will learn whether changes to reporting policies, implementation of the IHR core competencies, use of novel disease reporting systems, or increased investments in disease surveillance have improved the speed of detection and response capabilities. Measurements can be stratified by several variables, including pathogen type, to gain insight into what approaches are most effective.
Ministries of Health will not only be able to assess progress to date, but identify programmatic or geographic gaps that can inform resource allocation and strategic planning. Governments, NGOs, and philanthropies will be able to better understand which investments have the biggest impact in the area of rapid detection and response, and can share these learnings to ensure efficient use of limited funds.
- Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET)
- Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance (MBDS)
- South East European Center of Infectious Diseases Surveillance Control (SECID)
- Digital Divide Data (DDD)
Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World
Upcoming exhibition to explore emerging diseases through an animal-human-environmental interface
In 2018, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History will launch Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World, a major exhibition and programming effort aiming to explore emerging diseases at the intersection of animal, human, and environmental health. Prompted by the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak and the Zika epidemic, the exhibition will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Outbreak will raise public awareness and understanding of infectious diseases outbreaks, empowering its audiences to respond knowledgeably to disease outbreaks in their own communities, understand what they can do to protect themselves and their families, and see what role they can play to impact future outbreaks. During its three-year run at the museum, Outbreak expects to reach an estimated 8 million visitors. The Smithsonian will build global awareness of pandemics, the ecology and evolution of emerging infectious diseases, and how they impact the public’s everyday lives.
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Participatory One Health Digital Disease Detection (PODD)
Tool to detect emerging animal and environmental health threats in Thailand
Launched in August 2014, Participatory One Health Digital Disease Detection (PODD) detects emerging animal and environmental health threats in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A team of veterinarians, public health officers, livestock officers, community volunteers, technologists, economists, social scientists, and geographic information systems (GIS) experts developed smartphone and web applications for community members to report unusual disease events in backyard and wild animals and humans. Volunteers report potential human or animal disease outbreaks or environmental hazards through the PODD mobile app. These disease reports lead to a local response from health experts who collect lab samples from the disease source in the community and/or send preventive materials such as vaccines.
Within 16 months after launch, 1,340 abnormal events were reported by volunteers through the PODD mobile app. Within two years, more than 3,500 volunteers were trained.
- Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health Office
- Chiang Mai Provincial Livestock Office
- Opendream
- Chiang Mai One Health Network Coordinating Center
- Chiang Mai University
Saúde Na Copa
Mobile and web-based surveillance data application to detect outbreaks during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
Saúde Na Copa is a mobile and web-based application that was developed to gather communicable disease symptom surveillance data from attendees of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil for faster detection of outbreaks.
The 2014 World Cup app was converted into an everyday app, Guardians of Health (iOS / Android), for Brazilians to use on a regular basis. The Ministry of Health received 44,029 records of 7,200 users reporting their health condition.
- Epitrack
- Ministry of Health, Brazil
- ProEpi-Associação Brasileira de Profissionais de Epidemiologia de Campo
South Asia Pandemic Preparedness Tabletop Exercise
One Health pandemic preparedness exercise in South Asia
Held in the Maldives in July 2016, the South Asia Pandemic Preparedness Tabletop Exercise was a three-day meeting bringing together South Asian leaders in infectious disease outbreak response for public and animal health. The event provided an opportunity to address challenges in the detection of and response to infectious disease outbreaks as they spread beyond country borders and across species. An exercise simulation involving a fictional outbreak scenario was used as a format to evaluate current systems, policies, and procedures.
The meeting was a first step toward developing a South Asian regional disease surveillance network. South Asia Pandemic Preparedness Tabletop Exercise participants documented current strengths and areas for improvement and identified areas for increased cooperation and coordination in pandemic detection and response among South Asian countries.
- Sandia National Laboratories
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