Ransom Ray

In response to the February 2016 Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak, an inter-agency agreement between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) commissioned further research on the epidemiology, transmission, diagnosis, and birth defects associated with ZIKV. The surveillance and research activities conducted included ecology studies focusing on the transmission dynamics; pregnancy and infant cohort studies to look for birth defects, developmental outcomes and risk factors associated with ZIKV infection; and laboratory studies evaluating the usefulness of multiple Zika diagnostic platforms. These studies were established by either setting up new systems, or leveraging on existing surveillance systems to include ZIKV research specific data elements. Conducted using country-specific protocols, these research systems included key data elements for cross-site analysis. Challenges faced included collection of non-standardized data, differing functional requirements, varying security and confidentiality protocols and limitations of informatics infrastructure. These challenges highlight an opportunity to evaluate and present the informatics-based components necessary to rapidly deploy surveillance and research study activities during a global health emergency situation. We highlight the key challenges and presents strategies for setting up rapid surveillance and research study activities. Additional areas of focus also include system architecture, global partnerships, and workforce development.

Objective: To assess challenges of establishing surveillance and research study systems and present strategies for rapid deployment in global health for the outbreak response.

Mobile technology provides opportunities to monitor and improve health in areas of the world where resources are scarce. Poor infrastructure and the lack of access to medical services for millions have led to increased usage of mobile technology for health related purposes in recent years. As adoption has increased, so has its acceptance as a viable technology for health data collection. The ability to provide timely, accurate, and informed responses to emerging outbreaks of disease and other health threats makes mobile technology highly suitable for use in surveillance data collection activities and within the arena of global health informatics overall. The American Public Health Association defines global health informatics as the application of information and communication technologies to improve health in low-resource settings, which include the following: linking disparate sources of data together through natural language processing, use of mobile health technologies for disease surveillance, use of telemedicine to manage chronic disease, use of digital libraries to increase knowledge and awareness of public health events. 

Objective 

To present the prevailing global public health informatics landscape in developing countries highlighting current mobile system requirements and usage for disease surveillance and revealing gaps in the technology.