Abstract
Abstract The COVID-19 global pandemic has had considerable health impact, including sub-Saharan Africa. In Malawi, a resource-limited setting in Africa, gaining access to data to inform the COVID-19 response is challenging. Information on adherence to physical distancing guidelines and reducing contacts are nonexistent, but critical to understanding and communicating risk, as well as allocating scarce resources. We present a case study which leverages aggregated call detail records into a daily data pipeline which summarize population density and mobility in an easy-to-use dashboard for public health officials and emergency operations. From March to April 2021, we have aggregated 6-billion calls and text messages and continue to process 12 million more daily. These data are summarized into reports which describe, quantify, and locate mass gatherings and travel between subdistricts. These reports are accessible via web dashboards for policymakers within the Ministry of Health and Emergency Operations Center to inform COVID-19 response efforts and resource allocation.
Highlights
The COVID-19 global pandemic has spread to 192 countries causing 155-million infections and 3.2million deaths through April 2021 (Dong et al, 2020)
Policy Significance Statement This study presents a case study of the use of aggregated mobile phone data to better understand population mobility and connectedness—a key indicator of COVID-19 response
This study aims to successfully develop a daily pipeline of call detail records (CDRs) data in Malawi, including analytics and visualizations to improve targeting of limited resources and public health response in a resource-limited setting
Summary
The COVID-19 global pandemic has spread to 192 countries causing 155-million infections and 3.2million deaths through April 2021 (Dong et al, 2020). High prevalence of cardiovascular diseases - each large risk factors for COVID-19 severity - have been hardest hit by the pandemic (Booth et al, 2021; Li et al, 2021). While testing capacity in Africa was extremely limited in the early outbreak, the continent was quick to lockdown in March and April, which likely helped to mitigate and suppress early spread of COVID-19 (Cooper/Smith, 2020a; University of Oxford, 2020). Policies in recent months have relaxed, and mobility patterns have returned to near normal levels in many places as questions continue to mount over the trade-offs between COVID-19 risks and the economic impact of mitigation policies (Carlitz and Makhura, 2020; Cooper/Smith, 2020b). The “South Africa Variant,” lineage B.1.351, has been determined to be a variant of concern and is believed to have in part fueled the second COVID-19 wave in Africa (WHO Africa, 2021)
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