In response to these health crises, new digital approaches to disease surveillance have emerged, aimed at speeding up the transfer of epidemiological data and increasing countries’ preparedness for future outbreaks.
Ihekweazu said this has been built as fit for purpose within Nigeria’s context, as the NCDC recognises the difficulty of limited Internet connectivity in some parts of the country. “With SORMAS, our health workers can continue their work with or without Internet access, and there is an automatic synchronisation as soon as they reach an area with Internet access,” the epidemiologist said.
Using this data, the platform is able to generate early warnings of potential outbreaks and activate response measures using real-time data to help manage and control the outbreak.The Go.Data software application, created by WHO with partners of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, was designed specifically for field workers and has been implemented in many countries for COVID-19.
These three teams have embraced a basic common concept. A smartphone regularly broadcasts a random string of characters that serves as a pseudonym to other phones using Bluetooth’s low-energy specification for sending short bursts of data. In China, a mandatory smartphone app “Health code” that leverages a mesh network for infected persons contact tracing and notification.
Iranian authorities developed a mobile app with government endorsement for COVID-19 self-diagnosis checks. It, however, also discretely collects user’s location data. Indeed, as health departments weigh competing app designs and prepare their pitches to privacy-conscious citizens, they will have to define success. It will be hard to prove an app has slowed the rate of infections and changed the course of an epidemic. But teams of epidemiologists, engineers, and behavioral scientists have many ways to put them to the test.
Marginalised and disadvantaged groups will be more likely to be excluded, particularly in low-and middle-income settings. In humanitarian and conflict settings, mobile phones can present opportunities for theft and violence. A recent study titled “COVID-19 Mobile Positioning Data Contact Tracing and Patient Privacy Regulations: Exploratory Search of Global Response Strategies and the Use of Digital Tools in Nigeria” concluded: “Mobile positioning data can significantly improve the capacity and scope of timely outbreak response and will help governments as well as other responders in Nigeria.
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