Using Mobile Phones to Collect End Line Evaluation Data for the Essential Drug Logistics
System Pilot in Zambia
Dr. Arturo SanabriaWendy Nicodemus
Background
• Zambian MoH has invested substantial funds in the public sector drug system– Health centres continue to have difficulty accessing these
drugs and medical supplies
• MoH and key partners proposed a pilot project to improve drug availability at health centres and hospitals across Zambia
Goal of the PilotTest two different logistics system models to select one (or a
combination/variation) that can be rolled out nationally, in order to significantly improve the availability of key essential drugs at service
delivery sites
The Pilot ModelsSystem A
• District Store remains as stockholding point
• Districts submit consolidated orders every month and receive consolidated deliveries from MSL
VS
System B• District Store converted to cross-docking point
• Districts submit individual orders for each facility and receive goods packed for individual facilities
16 Pilot Districts and 8 Control Districts
Essential Drug Logistics System Pilot Evaluation• Facilities in pilot and control districts evaluated at
baseline and endline to determine impact
• Endline evaluation used mobile phones to collect data at 259 health facilities and district health offices in 16 pilot districts and 8 control districts
Methodology
• Mobile phones used to collect data, including:– Stock status at facility– Storage conditions at facility– Order fulfillment rate– Impact of training in logistics management
• Data from mobile phones sent to EpiSurveyor (www.episurveyor.org) for aggregation
• Data shared via the website to all partners involved
Lessons Learned
• Final results presented 5 days after last facility visit– Previous evaluations took a month to present final results
• Mobile phone use requires detail-oriented data management reviewing the online database regularly– Requires continuous review
of data– Need IT support to address
any bugs with the mobile phones
Lessons Learned
• Preliminary data analysis ongoing throughout evaluation
• Technology works best when mobile phone network is strong and can be transmitted to server immediately– When no mobile network,
data sent to server at a later point negating benefit of real-time data review
Conclusions
• Mobile phone technology for data collection is appropriate when conducting health facility level surveys.
• The technology is user-friendly and easy to train.
• This technology is not necessarily the appropriate tool for routine site-level data collection as it requires a reliable mobile network.
