Mobile Services that Empower Vulnerable Communities
National Malaria Survey
Sierra Leone
OR DASHEVSKY
Chief Solution Architect
March 20, 2013
ICT4D Conference
Accra, Ghana
Overview
The 2013 Sierra Leone MIS is implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS),
the National Program for Malaria Control (NMCP), Statistics Sierra Leone
(SSL), with technical assistance from ICF International in Calverton, Maryland.
The main objectives of the survey are to:
• Measure the extent of ownership and use of mosquito nets
• Assess coverage of the intermittent preventive treatment program to
protect pregnant women
• Identify practices used to treat malaria among children under five and the
use of specific anti-malarial medications
• Measure the prevalence of malaria and anemia among children age 6
months to 5 years
• Assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of malaria in the general
population.
Survey Overview
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Main exercise in January / February for 4 to 6 weeks of collection
28 Teams to cover 336 clusters
Each cluster will have 20 households
Total of 6,720 households will be interviewed
All collection will be done using the iPhone and iForm Builder
Each team will consist of four team members (supervisor, nurse, lab
tech and experienced surveyor)
• Each household will be asked questions from the Head of
Household Questionnaire along with the Women’s Questionnaire
(15-49 year old women)
• All children under 5 will be tested for anemia and malaria
ICT4D Solution Overview
ICT4D Solution Components
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iPhone 3GS with 3G data services
iFormBuilder
MS SQL Database
Google Docs
ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS for Office
ICT4D Solution Process
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Identify functional requirements
Build Pilot Solution
Test Pilot Solution with field agents
Revise Solution based on the Pilot findings
Test revised solution
Resolve bugs
Test final solution
Provide Training to field agents
Go Live
ICT4D Solution Support Model
Its very important to establish support model at
the beginning of the project!!!
Role
Project Programming support
Emily Bostick | Suzanne Van Hulle
Local IT Support
Augustine Smart
Solution Design and
Implementation
OR Dashevsky | Simiyu Tete | Tianhoun
Dofinizoumou Arsène Théodore | Apoorv Pal
Data Management
Jose Gutierrez (Intern) | Paul Perrin
Key Successes
• 4 Weeks of Data collection
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5864 Households Interviews
6980 Women's Interviews
6176 Children's Hemoglobin and Malaria tested
32664 Individuals Household members registered
Adaption of the technology by field agents
Training approach
Near real-time data monitoring
No technical issues reported by field agents with data
collection software and devices
• Continuous improvement in data quality as a result of
direct feedback from the support center
ArcGIS Online Visualization of the data
Google Docs Data Quality Report
Key Issues / Challenges
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Last minute changes to the survey tool
Device management during training
Device Re-charging during training
All component of the system must be ready
and tested prior to starting data collection
• Establishing protocols when to sync data when
connectivity is not available
Lessons Learned
• Need to engage local partners from stage one and set
aside necessary time and resources to enable them to
manage the data feedback process
• SSL not ready to take this on independently
• Partners were happy to let CRS assume most of the
work – project was unsure how to manage this and
maintain deadlines
• Database sample should be tested and reviewed with
person doing the analysis prior to collection activity
• Support from GKIM should be dedicated from start of
project or, if support is not available then this should
be clear to projects
Summary and Close
• Data quality and timeliness of reporting
greatly improved by using digital tool
• Digital solution is not necessarily less work
but can simplify your cleaning process and
allow for quick turn around