How are we doing?

15Aug08

GATHER* is gathering momentum!  We are near completion
of the first field test of the platform in Uganda, and 
while we have some small bugs to fix, we are feeling 
good about how the system worked. The first use was 
to expedite the regular disease surveillance and 
reporting system in 20 health centers in Homia district. 

Ugandan health centers are required to report each week on 
13 diseases and on other emerging infections suspected, 
including polio, rabies, cholera, dysentery, measles, malaria 
and other infectious diseases.  The current practices require 
the completion of two paper forms that must be taken to the 
district or sub-district office, often by foot or by bicycle.  
Reporting delays are common.  This approach is pretty common 
in Africa with village and community health centers often in
remote areas without good transportation.

GATHER allowed the health workers to complete their reports 
on cell phones and to send that data over the cellular network 
to a server at the Ministry of Health. The GATHER server 
confirms delivery, sends the data to the appropriate 
district office and puts into the legacy database at the 
Ministry of Health.   GATHER is designed to alert health 
officials when reported numbers are outside of the norm 
and may indicate an outbreak.

Recently implemented international health regulations require 
UN member countries to report outbreaks on certain infectious 
diseases within 24 hours.  GATHER has expedited reporting of 
this critical data from rural health settings and has improved 
the Ministry’s ability to comply with the regulations and to
quickly respond to outbreaks.

*GATHER is an opensource platform for data collection 
and reporting, designed to work with multiple electronic 
devices, developed by AED-SATELLIFE and Dimagi.  We are 
gathering the best open source elements into the
platform.  Gather applications, gather data, gather 
people, gather and share knowledge.  The current phase 
of development is supported by a grant from the 
Rockefeller Foundation.

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