1. Mobile Technology in Public Health Service Delivery Ms Chahana Singh Rana, UNICEF Nepal Forum on the mobile eco-system in Nepal

2. Use of Mobile technology for reporting of polio campaign in eight districts of eastern terai. – Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Sarlahi, Saptari, Siraha Concept : UNICEF Nepal Technical Support : Young Innovative Financial Support : UNICEF

3. Outline of the presentation 1.Objective 2.System Requirements 3.Outcomes 4.Issues/Concerns 5.Next Steps

4. 1.Objective SMS reporting of the coverage of Polio campaign by every VDC and municipality in eight districts using SMS mobile technology Immediate SMS reporting of any Adverse Events Following Immunization and early action by the concerned individuals

5. 2. Systems Requirement A short-code 3344 registered with NTC for the purpose Web-based interface created and synchronized with the SMS messaging to record all the messages. A five-digit unique identifier code for each VDC used following the footprints of Central Bureau of Statistics In-charges of all health institutes in eight districts oriented on the reporting through SMS using short- code 3344 prior to the campaign A flyer was developed both in English and Nepali language for the ease of health providers Each user only allowed to SMS only ONCE for the VDC

6. Web-Interface Registered as www.nip.org.np/poliowww.nip.org.np/polio Reported data on coverage and number of children vaccinated synchronized with the web- the key word was POL Editing of the data was only possible to selected super-users and HW were asked to call a number if they had to edit the data Log of all SMS were kept

7. The Flyer on “How to Report”

8. a) To register the moblie in the system Open the message box and type space space Send to 3344 After registrations a message confirming registration similar to this will be sent to user: Thank you. You have been registered for Rampur VDC - 10101

9. b) To send report of the campaign Open your message box and type space space space Send to 3344 After reporting the following message appears: Thank you. Your information has been captures for Rampur. Coverage:58% No of children: 2098

10. The VDC Code Original code from CBS Revised code with last five digits from CBS The first two digit for the district and last three digits for the VDC

12. 3. Outcome Only 9 VDCs of 4 districts reported. The SMS system was not able to meet the intended purpose

13. 4. Issues /Concerns The SMS gateway of N-Cell mobiles and CDMA phones were not available. No baseline data available on the types of mobile phones used by health workers. Many had N-cell and CDMA phones thus limiting them to send the messages. Many health workers surprisingly had limited knowledge on use of SMS in cell phones. The NTC gateway for its transmission towers in 4 of the 8 districts were switched off thus health workers were not able to use the SMS short code

14. 5. Next Steps Take corrective measures for all issues identified Support from N-Cell and NTC, the two major service providers is vital. Addition of incentives for the use of SMS technology. A talk time of NRs 50-100 will be provided in future. Transfer the ownership of the system to GON with minimal technical and financial support. Make a free domain for all viewers with server hosted with the HMIS section of MOHP

15. 5. Next Steps Use of same technology for the additional purposes viz: – Up-coming Measles campaign all over the country – Routine immunization data reporting (discussion on going with Child Health Division) – Surveillance data reporting for vaccine preventable diseases (discussion on going in WHO –IPD) – Pilot SMS reporting of Key maternal and Child health indicators for Health Management Information System (Preliminary discussion with DFID ongoing)

16. THANKYOU Concept: UNICEF Nepal Technical Support : Young Innovatives Financial Support: UNICEF