Project News

The mSOS Stakeholders' Meeting was held on 5th of June 2015 at Silver Springs Hotel in Nairobi. The purpose of the meeting was to share findings from the mSOS (mobile SMS based disease outbreak alert system) pilot in Kenya as well as to discuss the possibilities of scaling-up mSOS nationwide. Lively discussions were seen at the meeting. Participants included approximately 80 participants from institutions such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kenya office, the Ministry of Health in Kenya, the Kenya Medial Research Institute (KEMRI), international donors, NGOs, and Strathmore University.

The mSOS system was established through the JICA-JST SATREPS project (a 5 year collaborative (*) research project between the Ministry of Health, KEMRI, JICA, Japan Science and Technology (JST) (*)and Nagasaki University Institute of Tropical Medicine), and developed through student mentorship program between the Disease Surveillance and Response Unit (DSRU) of the Ministry of Health and Strathmore University Faculty of IT.

Users of mSOS included health facility in-charges in peripheral health facilities that sent notifications of suspected outbreak cases to their health managers (sub-county, County, and national levels) using a toll free number. The pilot implementation was conducted in Busia and Kajiado County for 6 months, and incorporated a cluster randomized controlled trial design to assess the effectiveness of the system.

At the mSOS Stakeholders meeting, Dr. Njeru, Head of Disease Surveillance and Response Unit of the Ministry of Health, explained the background of mSOS while Ms. Toda, JICA Expert, reported the methods and findings on the mSOS pilot. Representatives from Busia and Kajiado County, and the coordinator for the national Ebola Rapid Response Team shared their experience on mSOS, which showed that mSOS was effective in notifying suspected outbreak cases rapidly and disseminating laboratory results in a timely manner.

Participants agreed that mSOS should be rolled-out nationally to strengthen Kenya's compliance to International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) and rapidly notify priority diseases and public health events of international concern. Participants also agreed that mSOS should be integrated into DHIS to assure sustainability. The Ministry of Health will formulate the plans and ask partners for technical and financial support to scale-up mSOS.

At the end of the meeting, the mSOS report was handed over from Prof. Morita, Chief Advisor, to the Ministry of Health.

(*) Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) succeeded the responsibility for management from JST as of 1st April 2015.

Opening remarks from Prof. Morita, Chief Advisor

Report by Dr. Njeru, the Ministry of Health

Report by Ms. Toda, JICA Expert

Group Photo of Participants

Voice of a participant

Closing remarks from Mr. Tambara, JICA Kenya Office

Handover of mSOS report

Project members from the Ministry of Health and JICA