Publications
National reporting of deaths after enhanced Ebola surveillance in Sierra Leone
August 2020
Sierra Leone experienced the largest documented epidemic of Ebola Virus Disease in 2014–2015. The government implemented a national tollfree telephone line (1-1-7) for public reporting of illness and deaths to improve the detection of Ebola cases. Reporting of deaths declined substantially after the epidemic ended. To inform routine mortality surveillance, we aimed to describe the trends in deaths reported to the 1-1-7 system and to quantify people’s motivations to continue reporting deaths after the epidemic.
Establishing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) diagnostics using GeneXpert technology at a mobile laboratory in Liberia: Impact on outbreak response, case management and laboratory systems strengthening
January 2018
The 2014–16 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa highlighted the necessity for readily available, accurate and rapid diagnostics. The magnitude of the outbreak and the re-emergence of clusters of EVD cases following the declaration of interrupted transmission in Liberia, reinforced the need for sustained diagnostics to support surveillance and emergency preparedness. We describe implementation of the Xpert Ebola Assay, a rapid molecular diagnostic test run on the GeneXpert platform, at a mobile laboratory in Liberia and the subsequent impact on EVD outbreak response, case management and laboratory system strengthening.
The 117 call alert system in Sierra Leone: From rapid Ebola notification to routine death reporting
September 2017
A toll-free, nationwide phone alert system was established for rapid notification and response during the 2014–2015 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. The system remained in place after the end of the epidemic under a policy of mandatory reporting and Ebola testing for all deaths, and, from June 2016, testing only in case of suspected Ebola. We describe the design, implementation and changes in the system; analyse calling trends during and after the Ebola epidemic; and discuss strengths and limitations of the system and its potential role in efforts to improve death reporting in Sierra Leone.
Experience implementing OpenMRS to support maternal and reproductive health in Northern Nigeria
January 2010
In Northern Nigeria a deteriorating health system has resulted in one of the World’s highest rates of maternal and infant deaths. The dire situation in Northern Nigeria is only amplified by the lack of an effective health information system, leaving hospitals and clinics to make decisions about patient care with only uninformed guesses about medical history and access to unreliable and unintelligible patient registers and summary reports. In 2009 we implemented an electronic medical records system using OpenMRS for the Family Health Unit of the Shehu Idris College. The three-month process resulted in electronic forms for all clinical areas, greatly reduced data duplication and a monthly reporting process that takes minutes instead of days. This system provides not only access to the first patient-based health indicators in Nigeria (as opposed to previously error-prone aggregate data) but is also an example of the potential to overcome the harsh computing environment in Nigeria to implement eHealth systems that will improve the quality of patient care.