Going mobile to get data used Lessons from the development of mobile data collection systems Bram Piot, Aleck Dhliwayo, Marie Solange Ngoueko Evaluation 2013 October 18, 2013

PSI is a global health organization dedicated to improving the health of people in the developing world by focusing on serious challenges like a lack of family planning, HIV and AIDS, barriers to maternal health, and the greatest threats to children under five, including malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition

Background PAGE 3 PSI uses mHealth solutions that can support evaluation PC tablets to manage client records in Zimbabwe Community case management via SMS in Cameroun

Tablets for SRH in Zimbabwe page 4

Tablets for SRH in Zimbabwe - Background page 5 High printing costs (18 Cents per client record) High courier costs of completed records High data entry costs (12 Cents per client record) Delays in data entry (3 Months)

 400,000 people annually access counseling and testing (VCT) services through a network of 16 VCT sites and 23 outreach teams  To lower costs and improve data quality, tablets were introduced for data capture in franchise clinics and by mobile teams  5 sites contributing 63% of all clients, eliminated paper client records in October 2012  Mobile application running on both Windows and Android mobile tablets Data automation in Zimbabwe PAGE 6

page 7 Cost effectiveness of tablets in Zimbabwe Cost Years

 247,000 clients were seen in year 1 translating to $90,000 in savings on printing and data entry costs  Timeliness of client data has improved significantly from a 3 month Lag time to 1- 5 Days  Custom reports are now available immediately  Client management has improved with a reduction in the average time taken for a counseling session page 8 Tablets for SRH in Zimbabwe

Mobile SMS for Cameroun - Objectives Build capacity of 250 people to use mobile technology for data transmission Increase timeliness and completeness of reports from health area chiefs to 80% and community health workers to 90% To reduce data transmission time and improve program management in the field.

 Significant improvements achieved in timeliness of reports (76%)  Drug stock-outs eliminated  CHWs able to treat 97% of malaria cases and 88% of the diarrheal cases because of improved reporting Mobile SMS for Cameroon page 10

 Improved data quality  Greater productivity through the use of mobile devices  Field data immediately available for reporting or further analysis  Mobile devices provide a platform for integrating services  Other types of data e.g. GPS; Pictures can be collected Results PAGE 11

 Records can be analyzed at any point in time, rather than waiting for the middle of the month to have data about the previous month’s performance  Reports on performance as well as analysis for evaluation purposes can be pushed back to the lowest levels of data collection  Mobile technology requires adequate IT skills to implement and support  Appropriate training of field staff is essential for success of mobile technology implementation  Over time, mobile devices are less costly than paper, despite their high initial set-up costs Lessons Learned PAGE 12

 The adoption of these systems has improved the management and quality of routine monitoring data, reduced operating costs, and improved efficiency of our interventions through increased information use by program managers  Improved data will support evaluation of these programs in the future  Mobile devices make it possible for audio recordings of counseling sessions for quality assurance  Routine Data Quality Assessments can be conducted rapidly and remotely if required Implications for Program Evaluation PAGE 13

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