COVID-19 ECHO Session #44: Country Experiences with the Use of Digital Tools for COVID-19


May 16, 2021

On 13 May 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss a series of case studies on country experiences regarding the design and implementation of digital tools to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The series was compiled by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) in collaboration with ministries of health and government partners. The goal was to promote knowledge exchange and highlight learnings and tools that might be useful to other countries interested in improving their digital systems for COVID-19 response. Presenters, including Lois Olajide, National Coordinator, Surveillance Outbreak Response Management & Analysis System (SORMAS), Nigeria; Lalitesh Katraggada, Founder of Indihood, Creator of Google Maps Maker, and Co-Creator of Aarogya Setu, India; Muhammed Semakula, Health & Scientific Innovation Analyst, Leader of Data Science & IT Solutions for COVID-19 Response, Rwanda Biomedical Centre; and Rigveda Kadam, Head of Digital Access, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics shared their implementation experiences, highlighting critical successes and operational challenges. Enablers of adoption included national ownership and having flexible and interoperable platforms, while operational challenges included underlying human resource gaps in the healthcare sector and balancing hard/software needs and limitation in ICT infrastructure at lower levels. Please follow the links here to view the recorded ECHO session and download the presentation slides.