Innovative Technological Approach to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response in Nigeria Using the Open Data Kit and Form Hub Technology

Abstract

The recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa has ravaged many lives. Effective containment of this outbreak relies on prompt and effective coordination and communication across various interventions; early detection and response being critical to successful control. The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in active surveillance has proved to be effective but its use in Ebola outbreak response has been limited. Due to the need for timeliness in reporting and communication for early discovery of new EVD cases and promptness in response; it became imperative to empower the response team members with technologies and solutions which would enable smooth and rapid data flow. The Open Data Kit and Form Hub technology were used in combination with the Dashboard technology and ArcGIS mapping for follow up of contacts, identification of cases, case investigation and management and also for strategic planning during the response. A remarkable improvement was recorded in the reporting of daily follow-up of contacts after the deployment of the integrated real time technology. The turnaround time between identification of symptomatic contacts and evacuation to the isolation facility and also for receipt of laboratory results was reduced and informed decisions could be taken by all concerned. Accountability in contact tracing was ensured by the use of a GPS enabled device. The use of innovative technologies in the response of the EVD outbreak in Nigeria contributed significantly to the prompt control of the outbreak and containment of the disease by providing a valuable platform for early warning and guiding early actions.

Ebola Outbreak Containment: Real-Time Task and Resource Coordination With SORMAS

“…For example, Nigeria created customized forms with Open Data Kit (ODK) for Android phones, whilst the Ebola Care App created a distinguished app for both Android and iPhone (Ebola Care, 2014;Ibukun, 2014;Tom-Aba et al, 2015). EpiCollect enables to create custom interfaces for mobile data collection and analyses on a small scale (Aanensen et al, 2009).…”

“…This was possible thanks to tremendously intense and timely control measures together with beneficial circumstances surrounding case identification. At the time of the outbreak, Nigerian healthcare workers had established an Ebola reporting tool to document visits of contact people, which proved to significantly save time for information transfer (Tom-Aba et al, 2015). However, it did not address other aspects of outbreak response, e.g., case finding or bi-directional information flow.…”

Assessing the Concepts and Designs of 58 Mobile Apps for the Management of the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola Outbreak: Systematic Review (Preprint)

“…The first two were used during the outbreak. "SORMAS" was piloted in the field after the epidemic based on a practical EVD outbreak scenario and additionally contains a function for rumor management which was experienced as particularly important during the 2014/15 Ebola outbreak [5,7,9]. "Ebola Sense Followup" was developed using Open Data Kit (ODK) technology, form hub technology, and other integrated platforms, which are open source programming platforms that were also used during the EVD outbreak in Nigeria [5].…”

“…A large number of contacts per case followed up rigorously was probably the key to the rapid containment of the Nigerian outbreak. However, these counts also indicate the dimension and complexity of the task concerning managing, documenting and supervising such activities promptly [5]. Had the Nigerian outbreak occurred under slightly more adverse conditions, even the appropriate and massive resources involved in the Nigerian EVD outbreak control would likely not have sufficed to monitor the situation as the complexity The use of mobile phone information technology in the health sector (mobile health or mHealth) has received much attention especially during the EVD outbreak [6].…”

Nigeria’s Ebola Outbreak Response: Lessons for Future Epidemic Preparedness

“…This was used as an innovation in the response for data collection by contact tracers. It also ensured that all contacts were effectively tracked and eliminated provision of fictitious information by some contact tracers without physically visiting a contact [7]. A few contacts proved very difficult to follow-up or escaped follow-up.…”