Health Worker Continues Commitment to Malaria Elimination Despite Injury

Health Worker Continues Commitment to Malaria Elimination Despite Injury

By Alexis Barnes on September 24, 2015 in Malaria, News

When Cairo Situlo learned of a new surveillance system that mobilizes community members and data, he sprung into action volunteering his time tracking down sources of malaria cases. He volunteers in the Southern Province Zambian city of Zimba to fight malaria in his community.

Mr. Situlo's x-ray, showing his orthopedic surgery.
Mr. Situlo’s x-ray, showing his orthopedic surgery.

When a health facility or post receives a malaria-infected patient, it alerts community health workers (CHWs) near the patient’s household. The CHWs then open a case investigation- testing surrounding households and giving treatment where applicable.

Committed community health workers like Cairo are vital to the system and their work has increased access to care in rural areas of Zambia, stopping transmission of the disease. Nowhere was Mr. Situlo’s commitment more evident than following his accident in late 2014.

How to Harvest the Health Data Revolution

How to Harvest the Health Data Revolution

By Brian O'Donnell on September 16, 2015 in Health Data Systems, News

Data is the last great hope for African development, heralded by leaders from the AU to the UN as the new currency of performance and accountability. Smoother data sharing might make chaotic traffic more streamlined, hold leaders accountable for public funds, or even help epidemiologists predict the path of ebola. The universal link between quality data and quality healthcare is particularly instructive. In developed countries like the United States, for example, sharing electronic health records will be fundamental for broadening access to care.

But if African healthcare professionals don’t believe the hype, the skeptic in me can’t blame them. Faced with the complexities of healthcare in developing countries, “open data” seems a reductive and naïve option. Doctors already go to school for eight to ten years, and besides, reporting to cloud-based databases through feature phone technology could distract them from their day jobs. And why on earth would they want to risk sharing patients’ sensitive data anyway?
To answer these questions on public health data, let’s hear some experts on food security:

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