Availability and Suitability of Digital Health Tools in Africa for Pandemic Control: Scoping Review and Cluster Analysis |
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| Authors: | Bernard C Silenou John L Z Nyirenda Ahmed Zaghloul Berit Lange Juliane Doerrbecker Karl Schenkel Grard Krause |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany ; 2. PhD Programme Epidemiology, Braunschweig-Hannover, Hannover, Germany ; 3. Department of Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Freiburg, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany ; 4. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ; 5. German Center for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany ; 6. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland |
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| Abstract: | BackgroundGaining oversight into the rapidly growing number of mobile health tools for surveillance or outbreak management in Africa has become a challenge.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to map the functional portfolio of mobile health tools used for surveillance or outbreak management of communicable diseases in Africa.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review by combining data from a systematic review of the literature and a telephone survey of experts. We applied the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines by searching for articles published between January 2010 and December 2020. In addition, we used the respondent-driven sampling method and conducted a telephone survey from October 2019 to February 2020 among representatives from national public health institutes from all African countries. We combined the findings and used a hierarchical clustering method to group the tools based on their functionalities (attributes).ResultsWe identified 30 tools from 1914 publications and 45 responses from 52% (28/54) of African countries. Approximately 13% of the tools (4/30; Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System, Go.Data, CommCare, and District Health Information Software 2) covered 93% (14/15) of the identified attributes. Of the 30 tools, 17 (59%) tools managed health event data, 20 (67%) managed case-based data, and 28 (97%) offered a dashboard. Clustering identified 2 exceptional attributes for outbreak management, namely contact follow-up (offered by 8/30, 27%, of the tools) and transmission network visualization (offered by Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System and Go.Data).ConclusionsThere is a large range of tools in use; however, most of them do not offer a comprehensive set of attributes, resulting in the need for public health workers having to use multiple tools in parallel. Only 13% (4/30) of the tools cover most of the attributes, including those most relevant for response to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as laboratory interface, contact follow-up, and transmission network visualization. |
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| Keywords: | mobile applications mHealth epidemiological surveillance communicable diseases outbreak response health information management public health review transmission network |
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