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Public Health Surveillance & Response Systems

Emergency Alert and Reporting System

mHealth Kenya has developed a National Emergency System that has been in use by the Disease Surveillance and Response Unit at the Ministry of Health, Kenya in epidemic surveillance and control.

 

The EARs system as dubbed is used at the Emergency Operations Center to capture, report, and view emerging epidemics across the country. The system provides crucial data for decision making and epidemic control measures at the national and county levels.

 

It has been through this system that an innovation called "Jitenge" was birthed during this Covid19 period to help the national and county governments in Kenya to respond proactively in efforts to flatten the corona virus curve.  

Jitenge System

Jitenge, a Swahili word for self-isolate, is an innovation of mHealth Kenya developed to support the Government in the fight against COVID-19 in Kenya. The Jitenge solution was developed as a module of the Emergency Alert and Reporting System (EARS) used by the Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to respond to over 40 infectious diseases. The EARS system was also developed by mHealth Kenya.

 

Jitenge is available as an Android Mobile Application – Jitenge MOH, a USSD session - *299#, and an interactive web-based platform that supports a dynamic dashboard.

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Jitenge allows users to either self-register or are registered by various Ministry of Health officials at the quarantine initiation point for home quarantine, at the quarantine facilities, and of the point of entries by port health officials. 

 

Registered users will then receive daily reminders and prompts to report on their health status including symptoms or any other information. The system is being used to manage and monitor the following;

  1. Home based care management 

  2. Self-quarantine for contacts 

  3. Post-isolation follow-up 

  4. Monitoring of long-distance truck drivers 

 

Below is a description of the basic functionality of the Jitenge System;

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Resources on Covid19

In the News

  1. BBC News Africa | Dr. Cathy Mwangi, CEO mHealth Kenya, talks use of technology to support the health care system fight COVID19. | Link to interview (from minute 7:17)

  2. Al Jazeera - Counting the Cost with Darren Jordon | Dr. Cathy Mwangi, mHealth Kenya CEO, shares her thoughts on the effect the coronavirus pandemic could have on Africa's healthcare systems. | Link to interview (from minute 4:45) 

  3. The Standard | Technology to track patients on home-based care, says Chief Administrative Secretary Mwangangi | Link to news article 

  4. Daily Nation | Close family members of discharged COVID-19 asymptomatic patients to be monitored for 14 through Jitenge System | Link to news article 

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