Ministry of Health to track COVID-19 Patients using C4Life application

As part of the national response in the fight against Corona virus in Uganda, Academy for Health innovation is working tirelessly through a partnership between Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Makerere University and the Ministry of Health.

Through this agreement, a team of software engineers and medical professionals have developed a pilot project that will facilitate the management of the large numbers of Covid-19 patients.

This pilot project is an adaptation of the Call for Life (C4Life) project that has successfully facilitated the management of Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS patients. It uses basic mobile phones (Ka- torch) through voice automated call system known as IVR for Interactive Voice Response; a computer assisted patient management system. It is accessible, easy to use and has the potential to be widely applicable.

It is an intelligent technological health innovation that will support frontline workers to track all COVID-19 patients; these include recovered patients, those that have left quarantine and the contacts of the patients.

The Ministry of Health is already tracking at least 240 people who have completed their mandatory quarantine using this system. These individuals have begun receiving these voice automated calls to monitor their conditions and provide a platform to self-evaluate and report any symptoms.

It is currently in English, Luganda and Swahili but other languages are in the works.

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