The Uganda Ministry of Health Trachoma programme is collecting prevalence data for trachoma, which is known to be endemic in 35 districts of Uganda, in a bid to tackle it quicker and more efficiently
Efforts are underway to collect the data in an additional six districts that are suspected to be endemic, reports RTI International.
Since October 2012 the team has been armed with powerful new tools to improve data collection which include Samsung Galaxy tablets, donated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The donation was part of its five-year ENVISION program that supports Uganda’s efforts to control and eliminate five endemic Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) – lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis.
When data collectors finish their tallies, the information is wirelessly transmitted to a central server accessible to Ministry of Health programme managers and partners.
Instead of taking months to compile and enter information from handwritten paper forms, the results populate an immediately downloadable database with the results summarised online.
Speed of diagnosis and treatment is crucial for trachoma, a degenerative disease that is most commonly spread by direct contact with secretions from the eye and nose of affected individuals.
If treated in the early stages with antibiotics, trachoma is easily cured without lasting effects.
When left untreated, the symptoms may accelerate, often causing severe pain and blindness as a result of ulceration and scarring of the cornea. Surgery is often necessary in advanced stages of the disease.
The touch-screen tablets are a new technology for many of the personnel, who required training before use. The lack of wireless internet facilities and access to a reliable power supply for recharging the tablets have been challenges to the users in the field.
“Some of the data collectors using the tablets are still learning, but they seem to become more efficient each time they use them. At first, it was difficult for them to type on the tablets, but now it has become much easier,” said Christine Ninsiima, a team member for the Uganda Ministry of Health trachoma programme.
Despite these challenges, the approach has caught the attention of Ministry of Health officials outside the national trachoma program.
The Uganda NTD Control Program is now planning to use handheld devices for a number of upcoming surveys focused on data quality assurance, schistosomiasis (or snail fever) prevalence, lymphatic filariasis assessments and clinical reporting of NTDs.
The teams working under the Uganda NTD Control Program continually look for new, sustainable innovations that improve the efficiency and productivity of their work.
Ninsiima added: “We are really grateful for the innovations of the ENVISION project here in Uganda, and the mobile tablets are just one example of the success of introducing new technologies here.”
