A textbook from lectures we used to give at the “Ciro de Quadros Vaccinology Course for Latin America” just got published by the Sabin Institute: https://www.sabin.org/programs/training-education/vaccinology-book. The book is available in English and Spanish. My chapter on information systems for EPI (part of section 3) is attached.

As part of the WHO African region efforts to improve immunization and surveillance performances in terms of quality, effectiveness, efficiency, coverage and equity and in order to strengthen the capacity of policy makers and health providers in countries, there is a need for accurate data in order to gauge the effectiveness of existing policies and programs in health care system to make it more accessible and reliable. Guided by the WHO regional office, the IVD cluster of the Inter-country Support Teams for the ESA sub-region (IST/ESA) is supporting the use of innovative technologies within the immunization systems through GIS and mHealth. The rapid proliferation of mHealth projects (mostly pilot efforts), has generated considerable enthusiasm among governments, donors, and implementers of health programs. GIS and mHealth are not a new concept to be adopted and recommended by the WHO or MoHs, and they are among the key technologies that have proven impact on the quality, timeliness, and cost effectiveness of the program activities at all levels reaching up to subnational, health facility, and case-based levels (i.e. for VPD surveillance, AFP environmental surveillance, routine immunization and micro-planning, LQAs, EPI reviews, containment, certification and Monitoring & Evaluation etc.). One of the innovations is the Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS). The ISS is an Integrated Electronic Checklist used for supervision during Active Case Search and Routine Immunization which is mostly administered by both WHO staff and Government personnel via Smart mobile phones in the field at Health Facilities and Focal Sites. These supportive visits are automatically mapped on the country profile server managed by WHO. Supportive Supervision remains the bedrock for highlighting good surveillance and routine Immunization practices through systematic visits to priority sites for assessment, evaluation and on the job training for health workers and entire health system. As we move towards the last miles of polio eradication, advanced well to eliminate measles in our sub-region, thus to bridge immunity and surveillance gaps, WHO IST/ESA has gone a step further in institutionalizing supportive supervision by encapsulating the activity into mobile format that can be administered using smart phones in order to increases the accuracy and reliability of information collected. Accuracy of data can be enhanced by proper data collection and management, the development, execution and supervision of plans, policies, programs and practices that control, protect, deliver accurate, relevant and up-to-date data in the shortest time. In the use of m-health, data collection and management has become a critical component, which requires portable software, mobile devices and the software that houses the collected information. Open Data Kit (ODK) is a free and open-source set of tools that can help organizations author, field, and manage mobile data collection solutions. In the ESA sub-region, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan had already adopted the use of this real time mobile assisted supportive supervision with over 1,603 visits to health facilities in three months (August – October, 2017) across different regions and districts. Other countries that adopted the tool and are ready to commence using it includes South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Seychelles, Lesotho, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Swaziland. The Target is to have all countries under the ESA region to conduct all their supportive supervision using smart phones to foster accountability of WHO and Government staff. It also supports other health interventions outside the EPI programmes and countries are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to support other health interventions (e.g. Cholera outbreak). We therefore call to Government EPI managers and surveillance officers to position themselves to embrace and use the new innovations to enable them to attain and sustain immunization and surveillance targets. Contributors as well as members of the editorial board: Dr Ahmed Y, Mr Bello I, Dr Byabamazima C, Mr Chakauya J.M, Dr Daniel, F, Dr Eshetu, M.Shibeshi, ,Dr Lebo E, Mr Katsande R, Ms Machekanyanga ,Mr Masvikeni B, Dr Manyanga D, Dr Mumba,M. Dr Okiror S,Dr Petu A, Dr Umar S and Dr Weldegebrie G.

How best can a less developed country like Uganda conduct a cost effective POD in real time after trucks have delivered?

Cross-posted from the IAPHL forum with many thanks! Dear IAPHL members, Firstly, thanks to Victoria, Kamran, Gashaw, Wendy, and Prashant for providing their insights.They show the variety of value that GIS provides to logistics, I have categorized them into four different areas; OPERATIONAL/MONITOR AND EVALUATION - Monitor commodity consumption, stock status and stock out patterns. Use of interactive mapping (web maps) TRANSPORTATION - Route planning, available distribution routes, and transport costs SUPPLY CHAIN DESIGN - Where to place regional stores? Study efficiencies of distribution systems RESEARCH - Correlation of stock distribution against demographic indicators - Reporting/trend range analysis of each products This is a good starting point, it shows what Kamran said, there is a diversity of applications for GIS with Logistics and this driven by the fact that “location” really matters for logistics. If you can think of other categories or other aspect that GIS could play a significant role please email us and add to this list. I would like to continue this conversation by picking up on a theme made by our participants which is that there are a number of considerations that must be thought through when looking to use GIS and Logistics data. For example, the need to have high quality GIS and logistics data to use GIS successfully, for example to determine the actual distribution routes. The FIRST QUESTION IS "WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS WHEN LOOKING TO USE GIS AND LOGISTICS DATA TOGETHER? As side pointed, GIS data is one consideration specifically in regards to GIS data and transport analysis. In a number of countries, this is a rapidly changing context and in a number of cases data is coming from the supply chain and is at the forefront of filling in this data gap. For example, in Ebonyi state, Nigeria, the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT was looking at doing transportation analysis on the distribution routes, but, the available digital route network was incomplete. However, the delivery vehicles were equipped with GPS trackers devices for security reasons. Thus, the project then used the GPS data from these delivery vehicles to generate a more complete road network dataset that was then used for transport analysis (see blog: http://globalhealthafrica.org/2014/04/15/using-gps-data-to-deliver-health-products-to-people-faster/). Thus the supply chain itself was the source of this GIS data. In the case of transportation data we have been seeing a growing number countries that have GPS tracking devices in delivery vehicles; for example in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia have distribution trucks with GPS tracking devices that can be used to develop GIS data for transportation and routing analysis. The SECOND QUESTION IS "DO YOU HAVE EXAMPLES OF WHERE SUPPLY CHAINS ARE, OR COULD BE, A SOURCE OF GIS DATA? Thanks for your thoughts. Regards, Andrew JSI