SMS-based smartphone application for disease surveillance has doubled completeness and timeliness in a limited-resource setting – evaluation of a 15-week pilot program in Central African Republic (CAR)

El-Khatib, Ziad; Shah, Maya; Zallappa, Samuel N; Nabeth, Pierre; Guerra, José; Manengu, Casimir T; Yao, Michel; Philibert, Aline; Massina, Lazare; Staiger, Claes-Philip; Mbailao, Raphael; Kouli, Jean-Pierre; Mboma, Hippolyte; Duc, Geraldine; Inagbe, Dago; Barry, Alpha Boubaca; Dumont, Thierry; Cavailler, Philippe; Quere, Michel; Willett, Brian; Reaiche, Souheil; de Ribaucourt, Hervé; Reeder, Bruce

An initial four-day training workshop on the principles and practice of surveillance was conducted for the surveillance focal points (October 2015). The app was then tested for functionality, using fictitious data, in six health centers in the city of Berbérati (December 2016). Prior to launching the pilot study, the 21 focal points participated in a two-day practical training workshop on electronic data transmission using the app, then received a two-day booster training at week four of the pilot (epidemiological week 14). The booster-training workshop permitted troubleshooting of technical problems and included an agreement by focal points to begin transmission of Weekly Reports early (48 h before the submission deadline). The Director of Surveillance of the health district received training and supervision on the use of Argus on the laptop server for 3 hours weekly during a period of 3 months (March -May 2016). The 15-week pilot study was implemented from 6 March to 11 June, 2016 (epidemiological weeks 9-23).