New mobile phone app helps fight against mosquito-borne diseases

Officials from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services have undergone training on the use of a mobile phone application that helps to combat mosquitoborne diseases.

Dr Rebecca Levine from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention trained 20 officials on how to use the “Epi Info Vector Surveillance App”.

The App has been specifically developed to help health officials around the world while out in the field gathering data to help combat mosquito-borne diseases.

Dr Levine said the App was developed as a result of the Zika virus outbreak when they were asked by countries affected by the virus for assistance. “Now they will not have to go back to their office and enter the data because they can do it from wherever they are,” she said. “The supervisor from the office will know what his team is doing in the field. When the data is entered everything is calculated and the supervisor can just check everything on the smartphones from the office.”

Dr Levine said the App was piloted in four countries.

“They were saying we need to be able to use our data to protect our people and right now our data is stuck in a piece of paper and we don’t know where the piece of paper goes,” she said.

“It takes too long to enter the data and it takes too long to analyse the data and that was why the App was developed.”

The two-day workshop was held at the US Embassy.