ArticlePLOS digital health2024
Beyond diagnostic connectivity: Leveraging digital health technology for the real-time collection and provision of high-quality actionable data on infectious diseases in Uganda.
Article in PLOS digital health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Digital innovations and health information systems: Lessons learned from implementing ALMANACH in Nigeria.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- The future of diagnostics in Africa.Nature medicine · 2026Review
- A mixed-method evaluation of the impact of introducing 52 digital X-ray systems in Ghanaian health facilities on tuberculosis case finding and quality of care.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Comparative Effectiveness of DHIS2 and FAIR Data Approaches for Privacy-Preserving Health Data Analytics in Uganda: A Systematic Review.ClinicoEconomics and outcomes research : CEOR · 2025Review
- Tuberculosis laboratory capacity building in the WHO African Region: The past, the present and the future: A Viewpoint.PLOS global public health · 2025Review
- Improving transparency in malaria programme funds: A business case for connected diagnostics in Kenya.Journal of public health in Africa · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Automated data transmission from diagnostic instrument networks to a central database at the Ministries of Health has the potential of providing real-time quality data not only on diagnostic instrument performance, but also continuous disease surveillance and patient care. We aimed at sharing how a locally developed novel diagnostic connectivity solution channels actionable data from diagnostic instruments to the national dashboards for disease control in Uganda between May 2022 and May 2023. The diagnostic connectivity solution was successfully configured on a selected network of multiplexing diagnostic instruments at 260 sites in Uganda, providing a layered access of data. Of these, 909,674 test results were automatically collected from 269 "GeneXpert" machines, 5597 test results from 28 "Truenat" and >12,000 were from 3 digital x-ray devices to different stakeholder levels to ensure optimal use of data for their intended purpose. The government and relevant stakeholders are empowered with usable and actionable data from the diagnostic instruments. The successful implementation of the diagnostic connectivity solution depended on some key operational strategies namely; sustained internet connectivity and short message services, stakeholder engagement, a strong in-country laboratory coordination network, human resource capacity building, establishing a network for the diagnostic instruments, and integration with existing health data collection tools. Poor bandwidth at some locations was a major hindrance for the successful implementation of the connectivity solution. Maintaining stakeholder engagement at the clinical level is key for sustaining diagnostic data connectivity. The locally developed diagnostic connectivity solution as a digital health technology offers the chance to collect high-quality data on a number of parameters for disease control, including error analysis, thereby strengthening the quality of data from the networked diagnostic sites to relevant stakeholders.
Identifiers
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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.