Using Cell Phones to Combat Malaria in Nigeria

This article reports on a rollout of new cell phone surveys for malaria-prevention work in Nigeria undertaken by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS). According to the report, it is the last of three African countries where trials of the service are running with the help of Red Cross volunteers.

As reported here, the new Management Survey Tool (MST) was launched in Malindi district on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast early in 2011 and has also been successfully tested in Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. Volunteer interviewers working with the MST use mobile phone software to gather, store, and upload public health information, which can then be quickly analysed. According to the article, this has only recently become technically possible in Africa.

According to the report, the latest MST surveys using mobile phones are being used to evaluate the impact of a mass distribution and hang-up campaign by NRCS volunteers involving more than half a million long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with support from an IFRC team in the state capital.

As reported here, the MST malaria surveys in the three African countries were designed to be as representative as possible of entire communities and timed so that the intended groups were available to be surveyed. The purpose of the surveys is to highlight information about malaria prevention and treatment, as well as access to local health-care services, household income, and nightly net usage.

Three hundred households were reportedly surveyed door to door by volunteers. According to the article, surveys are regarded as vitally important for making informed decisions in public health, but doing them using pencils and clip-boards is both expensive and time-consuming.

According to the article, Nigeria accounts for an estimated 25 percent of the total sub-Saharan African malaria burden. Elder Bolagi Anani, chairman of the NRCS Cross River State branch, Nigeria has a long history of malaria being taken for granted. He is further quoted as saying: “The training has helped us build our capacities – no doubt – to the point where we feel we could conduct it ourselves in other Nigerian states.”

According to Jenny Cervinskas, an IFRC specialist quoted in the article, who also helped manage the rollout in the three countries and prepared training material for staff and volunteers, the MSTs are part of a broader effort to develop approaches to evaluating health programmes that will enable decision makers to carry out a survey and act on the results quickly.

The article also highlights the impact of cell phone technology on humanitarian work in Africa, especially as it relates to data collection. One of the issues reportedly highlighted by the MST questionnaires is the problem of how to correctly hang bed nets. A Red Cross information campaign that encouraged both the proper hang-up of nets and nightly use was reportedly run in tandem with a net distribution campaign.