Coconut Surveillance

Product Description

Coconut Surveillance is an open-source mobile application designed by RTI International in collaboration with President’s Malaria Initiative. The app works by capturing data about malaria cases from health clinics via mobile phones. The information captured is shared with health workers that have access to GPS-equipped mobile devices, allowing them to map infected households and carry out treatment programs in a cost-effective way.

Target SDGs

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

RTI International

Competitive Landscape

Direct competitors include Cipher.

Manufacturing/Building Method

N/A

Intellectural Property Type

Open-source

User Provision Model

Healthcare workers and developers can clone the app from RTI International's GitHub repository, where the steps to install, run, and modify the app are available.

Distributions to Date Status

As of 2020, Coconut Surveillance had reported more than 9,500 cases and collected data from more than 400,000 household members.

Mobile service required

2G and GPS technology

Device(s) required

Mobile phones

Additional features required

None

Permanent network connectivity required

Type of applications for data collection

SMS, mobile app, GPS location

Level of mobile data coverage needed

Type of data collected

Text

Usage rate (%)

Unknown

Literacy support

None

Languages available

Swahili and English

Operating system and version

Android

Power Requirements

N/A

Application of mobile data collection

SMS

Design Specifications

Coconut Surveillance is an open-source app designed by RTI International specifically for malaria control and elimination. The software guides health care workers through a case follow-up and active case detection protocol that aims to limit onward transmission and contain outbreaks. Malaria program supervisors can use the Coconut Surveillance app to monitor new cases and track case management in real-time. In addition to maps, charts, and tables with aggregated and case-level analysis, the software has built-in epidemic threshold detection and issue tracking to ensure the appropriate individuals take programmatic action in a timely manner. The app uses PHP for the Backend and JS with backbone for the frontend.

Product Schematics

Technical Support

Provided by the developers.

Replacement Components

N/A

Lifecycle

N/A

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

This product aims to limit onward transmission and contain malaria outbreaks.

Vetted Performance Status

Research conducted by RTI International and the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme determined that this solution has helped malaria surveillance officers in Zanzibar respond to more than 8,617 (84%) reported cases of malaria, complete nearly 10,245 household visits, test more than 36,185 household members, and identify and treat 2,032 previously unknown cases.

Safety

No known safety hazards are related to this product.

Complementary Technical Systems

A basic feature phone is required to report a case via SMS to the Coconut Surveillance database. Also, an Android tablet or mobile phone is required to run the Coconut Surveillance app.

Academic Research and References

McKay, M., Al-Mafazy, A., Ali, A., 2017, Using Mobile Technology to Facilitate Reactive Case Detection of Malaria. Online J Public Health Inform, 9(1).

McKay, M., Al-Mafazy, A., Ali, A., 2019, Evaluating Response Time in Zanzibar’s Malaria Elimination Case-Based Surveillance-Response System. Am J Trop Med Hyg, 100(2), pp. 256-263.

“Coconut Surveillance.” n.d. Rti.Org. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.rti.org/impact/coconut-surveillance

“Home Page.” n.d. Rti.Org. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.rti.org/

’s Malaria Initiative. 2020. “Home – PMI – President’s Malaria Initiative.” PMI. July 22, 2020. https://www.pmi.gov/

Awards, Blue Tulip. n.d. “MOMALA-App.” Blue Tulip Awards. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://bluetulipawards.nl/innovations/momala-app-1

“Goal 3.” n.d. Sdgs.Un.Org. Accessed May 29, 2024. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3

“Goal 9.” n.d. Sdgs.Un.Org. Accessed May 29, 2024. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal9

Coconut: Coconut Renders Json Defined Forms in a Browser and Then Saves the Results to Couchdb. n.d. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://github.com/ICTatRTI/coconut

“Coconut Surveillance.” n.d. Coconut Surveillance. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://coconutsurveillance.org/

“Using Mobile Technology to Facilitate Reactive Case Detection of Malaria.” Online Journal of Public Health Informatics 9 (1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5462224/

Compliance with regulations

This product is certified by the Ministry of Health of Tanzania, following the guidelines of the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme.

Evaluation methods

All the functionalities and the data security features of the app have been tested by the Ministry of Health of Tanzania.

Other Information

More information about this solution can be found in this video.

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