ArticleConflict and health2018
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).
Article in Conflict and health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Availability of published evidence on coverage, cost components, and funding support for digitalisation of infectious disease surveillance in Africa, 2003-2022: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Web-Based Apps for Responding to Acute Infectious Disease Outbreaks in the Community: Systematic Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of mobile health on emergency care in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Journal of global health · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of Supervision or Short Messages (SMS) on the Detection Rate of Diseases Under Surveillance in the Littoral Region of Cameroon: A Randomized Controlled Health Facility-Based Trial.Research and reports in tropical medicine · 2026Article
- Towards Malaria Elimination: A Nationwide Case-Control Study to Assess Risk Factors for Severe Malaria-Related Deaths in Brazil.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2025Article
- Influenza-Like Illness in Lesotho From July 2020 to July 2021: Population-Based Participatory Surveillance Results.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Outbreak detector: a web application to boost disease surveillance systems and timely detection of infectious disease epidemics.BMC research notes · 2024Article
- Towards malaria elimination: a reflection about digital notification modules to improve malaria cases notification speed and follow-up in the Brazilian Amazon region.Malaria journal · 2024Article
- A smartphone-based crowd-sourced real-time surveillance platform (apple snail inspector) for the invasive snails: a design and development study.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- "Boosting" Surveillance for a More Impactful Public Health Response During Protracted and Evolving Infectious Disease Threats: Insights From the COVID-19 Pandemic.Health security · 2023Article
- Testing the Impact of Phone Texting Reminders for Children's Immunization Appointments in Rural Cameroon: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Timeliness and completeness of weekly surveillance data reporting on epidemic prone diseases in Uganda, 2020-2021.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Children Immunization App (CIMA): A Non-randomized Controlled Trial Among Syrian Refugees in Zaatari Camp, Jordan.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2023Article
- Scoping review of health information technology usability methods leveraged in Africa.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2023Article
- The electronic medical record management systems may improve monitoring and control of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Participatory Surveillance of COVID-19 in Lesotho via Weekly Calls: Protocol for Cell Phone Data Collection.JMIR research protocols · 2021Article
- Assessment of the core and support functions of the integrated disease surveillance and response system in Zanzibar, Tanzania.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Early Detection of Dengue Fever Outbreaks Using a Surveillance App (Mozzify): Cross-sectional Mixed Methods Usability Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2021Article
- A Push-to-Talk Application as an Inter-Professional Communication Tool in an Emergency Department During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Open access emergency medicine : OAEM · 2021Article
- People-centred surveillance: a narrative review of community-based surveillance among crisis-affected populations.The Lancet. Planetary health · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIt is a challenge in low-resource settings to ensure the availability of complete, timely disease surveillance information. Smartphone applications (apps) have the potential to enhance surveillance data transmission.
methodsThe Central African Republic (CAR) Ministry of Health and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) conducted a 15-week pilot project to test a disease surveillance app, Argus, for 20 conditions in 21 health centers in Mambéré Kadéi district (MK 2016). Results were compared to the usual paper-based surveillance in MK the year prior (MK 2015) and simultaneously in an adjacent health district, Nana-Mambére (NM 2016). Wilcoxon rank sum and Kaplan-Meier analyses compared report completeness and timeliness; the cost of the app, and users' perceptions of its usability were assessed.
resultsTwo hundred seventy-one weekly reports sent by app identified 3403 cases and 63 deaths; 15 alerts identified 28 cases and 4 deaths. Median completeness (IQR) for MK 2016, 81% (81-86%), was significantly higher than in MK 2015 (31% (24-36%)), and NM 2016 (52% (48-57)) (
conclusionsThe app-based data transmission system more than doubled the completeness and timeliness of disease surveillance reports. This simple, low-cost intervention may permit the early detection of disease outbreaks in similar low-resource settings elsewhere.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.