The Ebola epidemic that started in December 2013 in West Africa was a reminder that there is a strong need for a common Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) framework in developing countries.
The DHIS2 software is used as Health Management Information System (HMIS) for collecting, analyzing and visualizing data for public health in less-developed countries. It is primarily used for weekly and monthly collecting of routine data, but the Ebola outbreak has led to an increased focus on strengthening it into an IDSR platform. This project will focus on what we do with the data, how we present it in a way that can be easily analysed. The goal is to develop a generic Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) dashboard, for example as a webapp for DHIS2. As DHIS2 is used in more than 50 countries it is important that the EOC-dashboard is generic so it can be used with any DHIS2 instance.
The requirements for the EOC-dashboard is still in an early phase, but an example would be: The dashboard should contain information for a given disease at a given time. Based on this, decision makers can more easily analyse the data and determine if there is a disease outbreak. It should also show a history of outbreaks and status of current outbreaks . An additional feature would be to send out reports using already existing technology in DHIS2 combined with the EOC-dashboard.
There is already one student working with these issues in collaboration with HISP Uganda and this project will offer the candidate the opportunities to travel to Uganda to work with the HISP Uganda team. HISP UiO and HISP Uganda are also involved in a larger project with CDC on IDSR.