Picking up Steam – What We’re Doing with Cell Phones

Our mHealth pilot is picking up steam.  Phase 1 of our project began last July (2010), where we deployed cell phones to approximately 20 health facilities throughout the Kilifi District (about half of total) to improve the reporting of disease surveillance.  Our Phase 2 has officially kicked off this past July (2011) and will go much further in improving health outcomes and providing greater access to Kilifi’s residents.Specifically, we are working closely with Medic Mobile to get the Past 2 project off the ground.  Medic Mobile is serving as our technical partner and is providing their expertise in software development, CHW training and deployment, long-term remote support, and evaluation of the interventions.  They will work in close collaboration with our Kilifi leaders, Jonathan Mativo and Benjamin Tsofa, to ensure that we are meeting our objectives and timeline for the project.Our work is centered on a number of use cases that focus on improving the communication between community health workers (CHWs) and the District Hospital, including:

  • CHWs can be notified of health facility meeting times
  • CHWs can be notified of vaccination days to mobilize communities
  • Health facilities can provide feedback to CHW questions
  • CHEWs (Community Health Extension Workers; our volunteers) can request follow-up sessions for HIV/TB/Antenatal cases
  • CHWs can request emergency services of the District Hospital
  • CHWs can provide referrals for malnutrition, malaria, pneumonia cases

Simultaneously, we plan to equip the District Hospital with a basic electronic health record system that can identify and monitor the health of patients that are cared for by the District Hospital and CHWs in the community.

Jonathan Mativo is leading the work on the ground and is a former President of Kilifi Rotary and new Project Manager for Medic Mobile.  He will be able to give us regular reports on the progress of our pilot and future work.  We’re excited for the full roll-out of this phase and will be sure to keep the information flowing.

56,313 Healthier Kids: More Work to Do (Part 3)

In my last post of a three-part discussion on our de-worming program, I believe it critical to emphasize that, even with our tremendous results, more work is needed to fight these devastating diseases (helminthes and schistosomiasis).  With incidence rates below 1 percent for 50,000 pupils in Kilifi today, it would be easy to move on.  Some might argue, why not leave this behind and focus on Kilifi’s other serious problems now that this is solved?

Yet, the news from our in-depth report was not all positive and should give us pause.  A questionnaire administered to 496 pupils in classes 5 to 7 showed mix results on our educational progress.

The Good:  100 percent of children could (1) identify why worms and schistosome infections were harmful, (2) explain at least one way to avoid infection, and (3) provide at least one way to improve the health of their infected classmates.

The Not-so-Good:  Only 40 percent of the same children knew how one got infected with schistosomiasis.  Less than 20 percent knew the degree of how many other students were sick with parasites.  And, dismally, only 7.8 percent of the respondents knew all the ways of improving health for children infected with the diseases.

The answer to the question above is clear.  If we left our work now, the infection rates would most certainly return to pre-2008 levels in a matter of years.  More education is needed to eradicate these devastating diseases.  It is not just enough to supply a child with a pill once a year.  Education leads to better health and so it falls to us and others in the community to ensure that every child understands how to live healthier and avoid situations that put them in greater jeopardy of getting sick from water-borne diseases.

Kilifi Kids has funding to continue the program for the next three years and we have been strong advocates to other organizations and local government to get more involved in this fight.  We believe that this work has huge pay-offs for the community and will push forward.  We will also explore other avenues to combat the causes of infection (notably sanitation) and are always looking for help in this cause.  So, send an email, pick up the phone, and join us to make the next study produce just as impressive results as this last one.