PDAS for malaria monitoring in Maputo and Gaza provinces, Mozambique, May 1, 2006 - July 31, 2007 : technical report

Abstract

The overall goal of the PDAs for Malaria Monitoring in Maputo and Gaza Provinces, Centre Grant Number 102534-001 was to improve the management of public health data using handheld computers in order to provide the malaria program the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative (LSDI) with appropriate assessment tools and the ability to make informed decisions. The specific objectives of the project that would contribute to the achievement of the overall goal were 1.) to enable personnel from District level of the health service to collect data and provide it to the Provincial level in a timely fashion; 2.) to develop training courses and appropriate collection tools designed for use with handheld computers; and 3.) to evaluate the utility of handheld computers for the malaria control program to provide data rapidly and accurately to allow better targeting of interventions and resources. // During the period of performance of the project (May 1, 2006 – July 31, 2007), project partners successfully introduced the use of handheld computers and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices for data capture and transmission over the GPRS network to central database at LSDI headquarters in Matola city. The use of handheld computers was introduced at eight districts in Maputo province and three districts in Gaza province. The project acquired, configured and distributed 20 Tungsten-E2 Palm handhelds, 8 GPS units, 20 Nokia cellphones (for transmitting data through cellular network), data cables and forms creation application…