Abstract
BackgroundEmerging information technologies present new opportunities to reduce the burden of malaria, dengue and other infectious diseases. For example, use of a data management system software package can help disease control programs to better manage and analyze their data, and thus enhances their ability to carry out continuous surveillance, monitor interventions and evaluate control program performance.Methods and FindingsWe describe a novel multi-disease data management system platform (hereinafter referred to as the system) with current capacity for dengue and malaria that supports data entry, storage and query. It also allows for production of maps and both standardized and customized reports. The system is comprised exclusively of software components that can be distributed without the user incurring licensing costs. It was designed to maximize the ability of the user to adapt the system to local conditions without involvement of software developers. Key points of system adaptability include 1) customizable functionality content by disease, 2) configurable roles and permissions, 3) customizable user interfaces and display labels and 4) configurable information trees including a geographical entity tree and a term tree. The system includes significant portions of functionality that is entirely or in large part re-used across diseases, which provides an economy of scope as new diseases downstream are added to the system at decreased cost.ConclusionsWe have developed a system with great potential for aiding disease control programs in their task to reduce the burden of dengue and malaria, including the implementation of integrated vector management programs. Next steps include evaluations of operational implementations of the current system with capacity for dengue and malaria, and the inclusion in the system platform of other important vector-borne diseases.
Highlights
Emerging information technologies are improving our capacity to predict, prevent and control vector-borne and other infectious diseases [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
We have developed a system with great potential for aiding disease control programs in their task to reduce the burden of dengue and malaria, including the implementation of integrated vector management programs
The recent emergence of mosquito-borne West Nile virus in North America resulted in new electronic surveillance systems for mosquito-borne arboviruses both in the United States [9] and Canada [10]
Summary
Emerging information technologies are improving our capacity to predict, prevent and control vector-borne and other infectious diseases [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. The recent emergence of mosquito-borne West Nile virus in North America resulted in new electronic surveillance systems for mosquito-borne arboviruses both in the United States [9] and Canada [10] This type of initiative is, most commonly achieved through systems that include software components with high acquisition and/or licensing costs, preventing system implementation in resource-constrained environments and limiting the potential for using the systems to address the problem of neglected tropical diseases. One way of overcoming this problem is to harness the explosion of new software products, for example those emerging from the open source community [11], that can be used and distributed without incurring licensing costs Practical examples of this occurring in public health include the use of Google Earth to map dengue cases in Mexico and Nicaragua, examine the spatial spread of dengue in Mauritius and track polio cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo [12,13,14,15]. Use of a data management system software package can help disease control programs to better manage and analyze their data, and enhances their ability to carry out continuous surveillance, monitor interventions and evaluate control program performance
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