title: Introduction of Mobile Health Tools to Support Ebola Surveillance and Contact Tracing in Guinea.
abstract: Challenges in data availability and quality have contributed to the longest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in history that began in December 2013. Accurate surveillance data, in particular, has been difficult to access, as it is often collected in remote communities. We describe the design, implementation, and challenges of implementing a smartphone-based contact tracing system that is linked to analytics and data visualization software as part of the Ebola response in Guinea. The system, built on the mobile application CommCare and business intelligence software Tableau, allows for real-time identification of contacts who have not been visited and strong accountability of contact tracers through timestamps and collection of GPS points with their surveillance data. Deployment of this system began in November 2014 in Conakry, Guinea, and was expanded to a total of 5 prefectures by April 2015. To date, the mobile system has not replaced the paper-based system in the 5 prefectures where the program is active. However, as of April 30, 2015, 210 contact tracers in the 5 prefectures were actively using the mobile system to collectively monitor 9,162 contacts. With proper training, some investment in technical hardware, and adequate managerial oversight, there is opportunity to improve access to surveillance data from difficult-to-reach communities in order to inform epidemic control strategies while strengthening health systems to reduce risk of future disease outbreaks.
authors.affiliation: Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA apl2127@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Jilian A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sacks
authors.affiliation: Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA apl2127@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zehe
authors.affiliation: Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Cindil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Redick
authors.affiliation: Millennium Promise, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Alhoussaine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bah
authors.affiliation: Millennium Promise, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cowger
authors.affiliation: Millennium Promise, Conakry, Guinea.
authors.forename: Mamady
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camara
authors.affiliation: Millennium Promise, Conakry, Guinea.
authors.forename: Aboubacar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diallo
authors.affiliation: Millennium Promise, Conakry, Guinea.
authors.forename: Abdel Nasser Iro
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Gigo
authors.affiliation: Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA National Ebola Coordination Unit, Conakry, Guinea.
authors.forename: Ranu S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Dhillon
authors.affiliation: Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone; D016358:Contact Tracing; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D029043:Ebolavirus; D058872:Epidemics; D016701:Guinea / Q000453:epidemiology; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D012424:Rural Population; D017216:Telemedicine