Link-IT Malawi

Surveillance of Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) is a big problem particularly in poor countries, like Malawi where people live in rural areas and do not have access to internet or sophisticated mobile applications. We propose to develop an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system where people across the country can use any mobile phone to call and report if they have symptoms, signs and risk factors of Covid-19. The system will grade the callers risk and inform them of the management depending on their severity. Health officials who will be able to follow up and test those at high risk of having the disease. The data will be analyzed with machine learning in real time to determine specific areas that need further intervention to halt the spread of the disease. This intervention is needed across the world particularly now that most countries are easing lock-down measures. 

Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is unprecedented worldwide health and economic crisis, more than five million people have been infected and over four hundred thousand have died by June 2020.

With no known immediate cure, most nations have employed drastic, but necessary, public health measures to contain the spread of the disease. However the lack of readily available data that adequately informs the spread of this disease in different communities especially in sub Saharan Africa threatens to undermine these efforts that were put in place to prevent the current crisis from escalating. Worst of all, in recent days, because of the economic pressures among other things, most countries are resorting to ease the lock-down measures without any surveillance measures in place.

Several mobile applications have been developed to tackle this problem in many countries. However, very few people in Africa, and Malawi in particular, have the literacy, internet access or smart phones to use these applications. 

We will use a cloud communications platform to develop the toll free Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The system will use an algorithm that will collect details including the location, sex, age, whether they fever or not, whether they have signs of respiratory tract infection including cough and shortness of breath, whether they have been in close contact with someone a suspected or confirmed Covid-19 patient, whether they have any pre-existing conditions for example diabetes, hypertension and HIV/AIDS. From these data, the system will classify the caller as either high risk, moderate risk or low risk for Covid-19. Those who are high risk will be managed as per the current national guidelines, and those with low risk will be offered general advice health advice. Those at high risk will further more be connected to an agent who will be able to take further information and will be able to follow up on them to ensure that they were tested.

The data will be analysed using supervised and unsupervised machine learning to determine clusters in the communities where the disease might be spreading. This information will be relayed to health officials quickly and would thus help decision makers plan targeted interventions.

We aim to reach the more than 80 percent of Malawian adults who have access to a basic mobile phone. This includes people from all education background, men, women, young, old, people living in rural and urban areas. The program is being developed by Malawians, living in Malawi. We will continually ask for feedback from both literate and illiterate members of the community throughout the design and implementation stages of the project.

Covid-19 is causing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in the people of Malawi. By developing a simple to use platform which will also be in the local language we will provide the people and leaders of Malawi with the crucial information needed to plan their livelihood. The availability of such information, and possible management, should help ease people anxieties and frustrations that come from being not adequately informed. 

Covid-19 is the biggest health, social and economic problem of our time and our project is a practical solution to tackle this crisis in a low resource setting  like our country if Malawi. This makes it the best project that is in line with the MIT solve Health and Pandemics Challenge.  

3 members are currently working on the solution