VCT-COLLECT: A MOBILE BASED VOLUNTARY COUNCELING AND TESTING

DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM

Esmael Kedir, MSc
1
; Solomon Atnafu, PhD
2
1
Jimma University,
2
Addis Ababa University
INTRODUCTIONa
OBJECTIVE
TESTING
ANALYSIS
FUTURE WORK
CONTACT
Esmael Kedir
Email: esmael.kedir@ju.edu.et
Phone: +251911071080
Solomon Atnafu
Email: satnafu@gmail.com
The main objective of this project is to design and develop a
mobile system for collecting VCT data using the open source
ODK technology.




The mobile application of the system has been installed on an
android based mobile phone with GPRS enabled sim card.
The server side web application of the system has been
uploaded on google s application server on free hosting.

It takes about 20-30 seconds to send a single filled form
during day time. Based on the current GPRS tariff, on average
it takes less than 0.1 ETB to send one form.


Currently, most organizations collect data on paper forms
despite inefficiencies such as the physical collection of
completed forms, data transcription errors, and long delays
before the data is available. Information regarding even one of
the most fatal diseases, HIV/AIDS, is collected on paper forms.

The fact that mobile phones are also being used in rural areas in
addition to urban areas provides a good opportunity to use
mobile phones for health data collection. Mobile phones are
currently being used for data collection in various fields like
health, forestry, disaster control and so on.

Since data is collected through the existing mobile network
infrastructure, the initial deployment cost of such systems is very
low, which makes them more appropriate for developing
countries.
1. Yaw Anokwa , Carl Hartung et al, Open Source Data Collection in the
Developing world." IEEE Computer magazine October 2009
2. Piloting Mhealth: A Research Scan, http://mobileactive.org/tagging/mobile-
health ,Emily Blynn ,
3. HIV Care and ART Update in Ethiopia ,www.etharc.com , Ethiopian AIDS
Resource Center
Figure 1. Sample Monthly VCT Report Form
PROBLEM
Problem Statement
Ethiopian ministry of health collects monthly HIV VCT reports
from all over the nation using paper forms.

The reports are recompiled at zone, region and federal level,
which is error prone.

There is considerable delay until the data is available for
consumption.

Hence ,the national VCT reports lag behind ,especially for rural
areas.

Monthly VCT Report
Reporting Zone___________
Reporting month__________
Reporting date ___________
Age Pretest
counseled
Tested Posttest
counseled
Positive
M F M F M F M F
0-4
5-14
15-19
20-24
25-49
>50
Total
Mobile Client

Internet

Web Server


VCTAggregate
VCT Database
GPRS

Web Client


Web Browser VCT Collect
Figure 2. General Architecture of the system
DESIGN
The system is designed based on the ODK architecture. It uses GPRS
network to collect forms from the mobile phone. The mobile client runs on
Android based phones and the server application can be accessed
through standard browsers.

Every VCT centers compiles monthly report and forwards to the
Zone Health bureau. The report summarizes the VCT results by
age and sex as shown on Figure 1.
IMPLEMENTATION
Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5
Figure 3.6
Figure 3.7
Figure 3.8
Figure 3.9
Figure 3.1-3.8 illustrate sample screenshots from the mobile application
and Figure 3.9 shows sample window from the server side application




Automatic identification of region, zone, and map
based analysis of the collected data based using GPS
coordinates
Extend the system to support other platforms in addition
to Android



REFERENCES