The development and application of a mobile-based data collection system for a growth monitoring programme in selected primary care centres in the Republic of Mauritius

Abstract

There is increased interest in child nutrition globally which has resulted in high-level commitments to address child malnutrition. However, monitoring these commitments are hindered by non-existent or weak paper-based child nutrition surveillance systems. We describe the development and application of a mobile-based data collection system in near real-time for children aged 0–5 years attending government growth monitoring sessions in selected primary care centres in the Republic of Mauritius. The mobile-based data collection form was designed using KoBoToolbox and was used in the growth monitoring programme across two districts in the north of the country. We observed nine primary care centres over a period of 18 days and collected routine data on weight from 576 children. A short questionnaire and interviews were conducted with a member of healthcare staff involved in the growth monitoring programme to measure the usability and explore the perceptions of an electronic data collection form. Prevalence estimates of child underweight and overweight were also calculated. Eight out of 10 (80%) participants obtained a System Usability Scale score >80. Healthcare staff believed that the mobile-based form had the potential to reduce their workload and reduce data transmission time. An important deployment-related issue was the need for adequate training in the use of a mobile device to collect nutrition surveillance data. Overall, 5.5% (95% CI 3.9% to 7.7%) of children were underweight and 4.4% (95% CI 3.0% to 6.5%) were overweight. Through the development and implementation of this mobile-based data collection system, we have shown the value and potential usability for mobile technologies to strengthen the child nutrition surveillance system in the Republic of Mauritius.

Towards a new era of mass data collection: Assessing pandemic surveillance technologies to preserve user privacy

“…(2014) ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology Artificial Intelligence ○ ● Hu et al. (2010) ACM Transactions on Database Systems Information Systems ● ○ Irache et al. (2019) BMJ Global Health Public, Environmental & Occu.…”

“…Accordingly, the privacy of the data must be defined based on the nature of the data ( Suganya, 2018 ). The data are typically classified according to the information they provide about users ( Irache et al. (2019) ).…”

“…As argued by Mennecke and West Jr (2001) , we are at a time when informed societies must create and share a legal framework that establishes the benefits of technology for mass data-based surveillance. Public health can be an element of surveillance for the control of COVID-19 and future pandemics, with or without the collection of data over time ( Irache et al., 2019 ). Therefore, the present situation requires an understanding of available options and technologies to stop the spread of this pandemic ( Leite et al., 2020 ).…”

Problems in primary care: A global perspective

“…In principle, patients visit a primary health care provider at a community health centre/area health centre for non-emergency needs, and if necessary, the service provider issues a referral memorandum to a hospital for specialist care. Several issues have been highlighted including: patients bypassing the primary health care providers and going directly to secondary or tertiary hospitals for non-complicated, non-communicable disease care; lack of a patient identifier leading to duplication of care and dysfunctional transition of care; lack of basic equipment such as stadiometers; weak health information systems and many primary health care centres lacking optimum physician consultation time (Irache et al., 2019; Musango et al., 2020). Recently the government, has sought to prioritise capacity building of primary care health workers and supporting the development of a 1-year postgraduate diploma in Family Medicine with the University of Mauritius.…”