Tech for Change
Hosted by the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, the "Tech for Change" blog shares insight and experiences from the frontlines of innovative mobile technology use in support of United Nations and other humanitarian work worldwide.
Tuesday 9 September 2008, 10:29 PM
The way forward: Mobile health in Kenya
My name is Titus Kolongei, and I work as a health information officer with the Division of Vaccines and Immunization, formerly KEPI (the Kenya Expanded Programme on Immunizations). My work entails collecting and analyzing health data, and submitting and sharing information with various stakeholders.
It used to be that much of this work was done on paper, but following a pilot project that took place in 2007 that is beginning to change. I was a participant in the pilot PDA project using EpiSurveyor--an open-source software for mobile devices--to support our data collection activities in the country. The pilot was led by the non-profit organization DataDyne, and funded by the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation partnership.
This technology brings much greater efficiency to what I do. Being able to electronically collect health data means that I don’t have to use paper, recording survey data with a pen, and filling out numerous forms and questionnaires. I just input the data into the PDA and then synchronize it to the computer to be analyzed.
I think this sort of technology is the way forward for most African countries.
Toward the end of December 2007, we decided to try to use EpiSurveyor in many other ways, beyond collecting data from rural health clinics. When we had a polio outbreak in our country, we decided to use EpiSurveyor to monitor polio immunization campaign activities by inputting a checklist on our PDAs to measure the quality and coverage of the National Immunization Days (NIDs). We used the software to collect data on how many houses had been missed, how many children had been successfully vaccinated, and where follow up efforts were still needed. My colleagues and I then synchronized the data that we had collected on our PDAs, and were able to analyze all of that data right there on our laptops while still in the field.
EpiSurveyor is helping make a big difference because it makes my work go a lot faster. You can imagine the hours it takes just to manually write down all of that data and fill out all of those health survey forms! Now we just collect and enter our data in one step. With this technology, it is also possible to send your data wherever you are, so we are even able to send data from the field directly to a central office.
Is this technology making an impact in Africa? I would say a big, big yes. The future for African countries is in technology. In every country, people are moving toward improving the way that they work. I think wireless technologies will be very good for the future of public health in Kenya . It’s very exciting where we are headed—toward making our health programs work much faster, and therefore much better.
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Titus Kolongei, a health information officer with the Kenyan Division of Vaccines and Immunization, is using mobile technologies to improve public health with the support of the UN Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership's Mobile Health (mHealth) for Development program. The mHealth program works closely with the UN World Health Organization and national Ministries of Health. For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.
It used to be that much of this work was done on paper, but following a pilot project that took place in 2007 that is beginning to change. I was a participant in the pilot PDA project using EpiSurveyor--an open-source software for mobile devices--to support our data collection activities in the country. The pilot was led by the non-profit organization DataDyne, and funded by the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation partnership.
This technology brings much greater efficiency to what I do. Being able to electronically collect health data means that I don’t have to use paper, recording survey data with a pen, and filling out numerous forms and questionnaires. I just input the data into the PDA and then synchronize it to the computer to be analyzed.
I think this sort of technology is the way forward for most African countries.
Toward the end of December 2007, we decided to try to use EpiSurveyor in many other ways, beyond collecting data from rural health clinics. When we had a polio outbreak in our country, we decided to use EpiSurveyor to monitor polio immunization campaign activities by inputting a checklist on our PDAs to measure the quality and coverage of the National Immunization Days (NIDs). We used the software to collect data on how many houses had been missed, how many children had been successfully vaccinated, and where follow up efforts were still needed. My colleagues and I then synchronized the data that we had collected on our PDAs, and were able to analyze all of that data right there on our laptops while still in the field.
EpiSurveyor is helping make a big difference because it makes my work go a lot faster. You can imagine the hours it takes just to manually write down all of that data and fill out all of those health survey forms! Now we just collect and enter our data in one step. With this technology, it is also possible to send your data wherever you are, so we are even able to send data from the field directly to a central office.
Is this technology making an impact in Africa? I would say a big, big yes. The future for African countries is in technology. In every country, people are moving toward improving the way that they work. I think wireless technologies will be very good for the future of public health in Kenya . It’s very exciting where we are headed—toward making our health programs work much faster, and therefore much better.
--
Titus Kolongei, a health information officer with the Kenyan Division of Vaccines and Immunization, is using mobile technologies to improve public health with the support of the UN Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership's Mobile Health (mHealth) for Development program. The mHealth program works closely with the UN World Health Organization and national Ministries of Health. For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.
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