Abstract
The conventional paper-based system for malaria surveillance is time-consuming, difficult to track and resource-intensive. Few digital platforms are in use but wide-scale deployment and acceptability remain to be seen. To address this issue, we created a malaria surveillance mobile app that offers real-time data to stakeholders and establishes a centralised data repository. The MoSQuIT app was designed to collect data from the field and was integrated with a web-based platform for data integration and analysis. The MoSQuIT app was deployed on mobile phones of accredited social health activists (ASHA) working in international border villages in the northeast (NE) Indian states of Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh for 20 months in a phased manner. This paper shares the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of MoSQuIT for malaria surveillance. MoSQuIT employs the same data entry formats as the NVBDCP’s malaria surveillance programme. Using this app, a total of 8221 fever cases were recorded, which included 1192 (14.5%) cases of P. falciparum malaria, 280 (3.4%) cases of P. vivax malaria and 52 (0.6%) mixed infection cases. Depending on network availability, GPS coordinates of the fever cases were acquired by the app. The present study demonstrated that mobile-phone-based malaria surveillance facilitates the quick transmission of data from the field to decision makers. Geospatial tagging of cases helped with easy visualisation of the case distribution for the identification of malaria-prone areas and potential outbreaks, especially in hilly and remote regions of Northeast India. However, to achieve the full operational potential of the system, operational challenges have to be overcome.
Highlights
The global burden of malaria stood at 241 million cases in 2020, which was an increase of 6.2% over the previous year
For ease of operation and to conform to the currently used data entry formats used for malaria surveillance under National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP), the mobile interface was kept similar to conventional paper-based formats used by the healthcare workers on a routine basis
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Summary
The global burden of malaria stood at 241 million cases in 2020, which was an increase of 6.2% over the previous year. Malaria-related mortality increased by around 12% over the same period [1]. Service disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the main factors contributing to this increase in malaria cases and deaths; earlier reports had shown a declining trend in most malaria-prone areas. The WHO South-East Asia Region contributed approximately 2% to the global burden of malaria in 2020. India accounted for roughly 83% of the cases in the WHO South-East Asia Region, which is a matter of concern. In times like these, when communication and services are disrupted, digital data management platforms and app-based data collection tools are vital to ensure timely data collection and transmission of malaria surveillance data
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