EWARS-in-a-Box: An early warning alert and response system for Mozambique
April 20th, 2019“……EWARS in a box is a custom-built solution designed for use in difficult field conditions, such as following a natural disaster or in a conflict. Each box contains 60 mobile phones, laptops and a local server to collect, report and manage disease data. A solar generator and solar chargers allow the phones and laptops to function without 24-hour electricity. A single kit costs approximately US$15 000 and can support surveillance for 50 fixed or mobile clinics serving roughly 500 000 people.
Each health site receives a mobile phone loaded with a custom-developed disease reporting application that allows health workers to enter information when they see a patient with symptoms of one of 8 priority diseases or conditions. These are acute watery diarrhoea, acute bloody diarrhoea, cholera, measles, acute flaccid paralysis (which could indicate polio), fever, malaria and jaundice.
This information is sent immediately to a central system, where the data is used to generate real-time reports that enable a rapid response to diseases before they have time to spread……”