Background: Tracking every child for polio eradication in the African region has been an ambitious objective in respose to the recommendations of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to enhance information gathering in areas with sub-optimal and challenging performance. Achieving this objective require real-time information on active surveillance. Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) case searches were captured on mobile phones to monitor polio eradication programme through a digitalised platform developed by the Polio Geographic Information System Centre at WHO Regional Office for Africa. The system generated a huge dataset and influenced the development of several information products that was critical for managing the polio programme within the African region which was acknowledged by Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) as a key support to acheivng eradication of wild polio virus which was celebrated in August 2020. Objective: To document and assess the impact of interactive visualisation infographic platforms to guide decision-making in achieving polio eradication in the African continentMethod: The study reviewed retrospective prototype data from a web-based interactive visualization platform sourced from real-time active case searches (ACS) conducted in the African region from June 2017-2020 using android mobile phones. The study participants used the platform via smart screens and touch wall projections for decision making and gap analyses. The study evaluated the tool using the informal user experience evaluation method combined with an automated relay monitor on the active surveillance web-based applications, which cached every visit to the geographic entity. The method employed required platform users to interrelate with ACS and AFP surveillance data via visual displays for their programmatic interventions and accountability. The study also captured their feedbacks through a structured interview and automatically-cached pages. Results: Communicating field level indicators in real-time and interactively to decision-makers is a powerful and veritable tool to solve geographical representation of surveillance gaps at the lowest level of reporting, and reach a wider diversity of audience. These interactive visualisations also solve the problem of complexity in interpretation, which can lead to an impaired understanding of surveillance blind spots, information misinterpretation, which occurs when users of the surveillance data ignore or do not know why, where, and how the data has been produced, or where and how it can be used.Conclusion: The digitalization of disease surveillance, particularly, ACS for Poliomyelitis permits decision-makers to conduct a strategic evaluation of surveillance situations and gaps via interactive visualisations. In this context, these interactive visualisations provide polio programme in Africa wih a platform to visualise interactive imageries of geographical evidence of active surveillance at focal sites using interactive charts, maps and dashboards for all polio surveillance processes. Other considerations, such as cost, ease of use, learnability, and efficiency of those tools were comparatively better than the traditional system.

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BACKGROUND The growth of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Africa is an urgent public health crisis. Estimated models project over 150,000 deaths and 4,600,000 hospitalizations in the first year of disease in the absence of adequate interventions. Electronic contact tracing, therefore, offers a critical role in decreasing COVID-19 transmission; yet if not conducted properly can rapidly become a bottleneck for synchronized data collection, case detection, and case management. While the continent is currently reporting relatively low COVID-19 cases, digitized contact tracing mechanisms are necessary for standardizing real-time reporting of new chains of infection to quickly reverse growing trends and halt the pandemic. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is describing an effective contact tracing smartphone app developed with expertise and experience gained from the numerous digital apps that the Polio programme has used to successfully support disease surveillance and immunization assessment in the African Region. A secondary objective is to describe how we leveraged Polio GIS resources to enhance existing contact tracing solutions to be more efficient through the connection to real-time data visualization platforms. METHODS We propose the use of a hybrid Open Data Kit (ODK) electronic COVID-19 contact registra- tion form that automates contacts and follow-ups. A proof-of-concept form on ODK has been developed that integrates collected contact tracing information from multiple platforms to generate an interactive regional dashboard to monitor the COVID-19 response. Analytics outputs extrapolate key outbreak response indi- cators such as timeliness, completeness and outcomes of contact tracing including new positive cases. This system allows multiple outbreak outputs to be monitored including sources of new infection for immediate response with minimal disruption to existing contact tracing tools. RESULTS Standardized electronic registration of COVID-19 contacts and follow-up using ODK has en- hanced monitoring of contact tracing. Countries and communities have increased their capacity to track COVID-19 cases and contacts in the general population quickly based on the onset of signs or symptoms. Registered contacts for contact tracing are matched to their respective cases more efficiently and for con- tacts that can engage in self-reporting, the anonymity of self-reporting. The country-specific results suggest that higher adoption rates of the tools may result in better quality data on the pandemic and elicited better decisions for a response. CONCLUSIONS Our proposed contact tracing solution which uses ODK based tools on smartphones and visualization bridge systems presents a scalable and easy to implement solution, that collects and aggregates good quality contact data with geographic information that can help make spatial based decisions and preserves privacy while demonstrating the potential to help make better decisions in response to an epidemic or pandemic outbreak. This application has been applied to the current COVID-19 pandemic and can also be used for other epidemics or pandemics in the future, to achieve quality data collection for better decision making.