ArticlePloS one2023
Leveraging interactive voice response technology to mitigate COVID-19 risk in refugee settlements in Uganda: Lessons learned implementing "Dial-COVID" a toll-free mobile phone symptom surveillance and information dissemination tool.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Debunking COVID-19 vaccine misinformation with an audio drama in Ghana, a randomized control trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Digital connectivity and social wellbeing in a polycrisis setting: longitudinal, nationwide, population-weighted evidence from Myanmar, 2021 to 2024.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Participatory Disease Surveillance for the Early Detection of Cholera-Like Diarrheal Disease Outbreaks in Rural Villages in Malawi: Prospective Cohort Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Understanding the barriers and facilitators of COVID-19 risk mitigation strategy adoption and COVID-19 vaccination in refugee settlements in Uganda: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPersons living in refugee settlements in sub-Saharan Africa may be at increased risk for COVID-19 and experience barriers to accessing COVID-19 information. We aimed to evaluate the implementation of "Dial-COVID" a multi-lingual, toll free, telephone platform that uses interactive voice response (IVR) to track COVID-19 symptoms/exposure and disseminate COVID-19 health information in refugee settlements in Uganda. We hypothesized that IVR could provide an alternative way to screen for COVID-19 and communicate public health information to humanitarian populations when physical access and testing capacity were limited.
methodsThe Dial-COVID IVR platform was created in ten languages and advertised by community health workers in refugee settlements for participants to call into toll free. In a recorded IVR symptom survey, participants were screened for COVID-19 symptoms/exposures and based on their responses, received tailored public health messages about COVID-19 risk mitigation in accordance with Uganda Ministry of Health guidelines. Here we report the challenges and lessons learned implementing this research during the pandemic.
resultsBetween February 2021 and March 2022, 15,465 calls were received by the Dial-COVID platform from all 31 refugee settlements in Uganda through which 6,913 symptom surveys were completed and 10,411 public health messages were disseminated in all study languages. Uptake of Dial-COVID fluctuated with the national COVID-19 caseload and was impacted by phone ownership and connectivity in refugee settlements. Intensified advertising efforts promoted Dial-COVID uptake. Flexibility to adapt IVR messages was contingent on translation capacity.
conclusionRefugees living in refugee settlements across Uganda accessed Dial-COVID to share and obtain COVID-19 information suggesting that IVR holds potential for rapid information dissemination and screening of humanitarian populations during future infectious disease outbreaks and may be a valuable tool for routine public health programs. IVR adaptation flexibility and reach are influenced by language constraints and by contextual factors related to platform access. REGISTRATION DETAILS: World Pandemic Research Network- 490652.
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