Emergency medical data collection system in place

Three months after the devastating earthquakes that hit Nepal affecting over 2.8 million people, TSF is still on the ground at the heart of the crisis zone implementing vital post-emergency operations identified in the mHealth sector.

In collaboration with Médecins du Monde (MdM), TSF has put in place a mobile data collection system allowing medical professionals to accelerate the detection of disease outbreaks by streamlining data collection at field level. TSF has equipped MdM medics with a smartphone-based data collection application and supports their daily reporting from remote locations with satellite communications.

Training courses and follow-ups are currently underway with sessions lead by TSF mHealth experts in Kathmandu and Sukute. Teams of mobile medics are trained not only in the use of the system, but also the satellite communication via BGAN required to send the automatically generated health reports in the absence of the GSM and CDMA networks.

Once tutored in the use of the system, teams of medics leave for the Sindulpalchowk region focusing their operations around 14 of the most affect towns and villages. The duration of the stay of the medics can vary from one day for the Land Teams to one week for the Helicopter Teams. The teams average a total of 250 to 500 consultations per day. The outreach of the system covers a population of over 40,000 beneficiaries as well as allowing countless epidemics (catalysed by the arrival of monsoon season) to be detected.

Following medics' field interventions, consultation data is automatically transmitted and compiled onto a cloud-based central database. A “one-click” operation then allows the surveillance team in Kathmandu to update their medical tables and charts dashboards. This data then undergoes quantitative analysis using World Health Organisation standards and thresholds to determine priority areas, concentration of diseases and potential epidemic outbreaks.

This diagram demonstrates the various phases of the system and how it helps in improving medical relief in the following areas of recovering Nepal.