Evaluation of the Introduction of PDAs for Malaria Control in Maputo Province, Mozambique

This evaluation study, written by Eng. Jamo Macanze, has as its objective to conduct a comparative study about the efficiency and efficacy of the data collection, sending and analyse between the manual process (based on the use of paper) and the automated (based on the use of PDAs). The same study will analyse the factor linked to the quality of the data, adequacy and data collection and transmission costs.

The efficiency of any malaria control programme depends on the access to reliable and timely data, and this is something that is currently lacking in the National Health Service. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are being used as tools for health information data collection in the communities and in the health care units and to facilitate the decision making process. To this regard, the LSDI with support from the International Development Research Center (IDRC) from Canada in partnership with an organization named SATELLIFE based in United States of America (responsible for training and provision of technology), has recently introduced a data collection mechanism using Information and Communication Technologies based on the use of (1) PDAs for data collection and storage and (2) GPS for collecting and reading geographical coordinates and (3) cell phone for sending data remotely to a central database located at LSDI.

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