Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.

<h4>Background</h4>Feasibility of mobile Apps to monitor diseases has not been well documented particularly in developing countries. We developed and studied the feasibility of using a mobile App to collect daily data on COVID-19 symptoms and people's movements.<h4>Methods<...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Levicatus Mugenyi, Rebecca Namugabwe Nsubuga, Irene Wanyana, Winters Muttamba, Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye, Saul Hannington Nsubuga
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1602bff4627e45f892531a0216ce9028
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:1602bff4627e45f892531a0216ce9028
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1602bff4627e45f892531a0216ce90282021-12-02T20:12:36ZFeasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0260269https://doaj.org/article/1602bff4627e45f892531a0216ce90282021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260269https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Feasibility of mobile Apps to monitor diseases has not been well documented particularly in developing countries. We developed and studied the feasibility of using a mobile App to collect daily data on COVID-19 symptoms and people's movements.<h4>Methods</h4>We used an open source software "KoBo Toolbox" to develop the App and installed it on low cost smart mobile phones. We named this App "Wetaase" ("protect yourself"). The App was tested on 30 selected households from 3 densely populated areas of Kampala, Uganda, and followed them for 3 months. One trained member per household captured the data in the App for each enrolled member and uploaded it to a virtual server on a daily basis. The App is embedded with an algorithm that flags participants who report fever and any other COVID-19 related symptom.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 101 participants were enrolled; 61% female; median age 23 (interquartile range (IQR): 17-36) years. Usage of the App was 78% (95% confidence interval (CI): 77.0%-78.8%). It increased from 40% on day 1 to a peak of 81% on day 45 and then declined to 59% on day 90. Usage of the App did not significantly vary by site, sex or age. Only 57/6617 (0.86%) records included a report of at least one of the 17 listed COVID-19 related symptoms. The most reported symptom was flu/runny nose (21%) followed by sneezing (15%), with the rest ranging between 2% and 7%. Reports on movements away from home were 45% with 74% going to markets or shops. The participants liked the "Wetaase" App and recommended it for use as an alert system for COVID-19.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Usage of the "Wetaase" App was high (78%) and it was similar across the three study sites, sex and age groups. Reporting of symptoms related to COVID-19 was low. Movements were mainly to markets and shops. Users reported that the App was easy to use and recommended its scale up. We recommend that this App be assessed at a large scale for feasibility, usability and acceptability as an additional tool for increasing alerts on COVID-19 in Uganda and similar settings.Levicatus MugenyiRebecca Namugabwe NsubugaIrene WanyanaWinters MuttambaNazarius Mbona TumwesigyeSaul Hannington NsubugaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11, p e0260269 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Levicatus Mugenyi Rebecca Namugabwe Nsubuga Irene Wanyana Winters Muttamba Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye Saul Hannington Nsubuga Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.
description	<h4>Background</h4>Feasibility of mobile Apps to monitor diseases has not been well documented particularly in developing countries. We developed and studied the feasibility of using a mobile App to collect daily data on COVID-19 symptoms and people's movements.<h4>Methods</h4>We used an open source software "KoBo Toolbox" to develop the App and installed it on low cost smart mobile phones. We named this App "Wetaase" ("protect yourself"). The App was tested on 30 selected households from 3 densely populated areas of Kampala, Uganda, and followed them for 3 months. One trained member per household captured the data in the App for each enrolled member and uploaded it to a virtual server on a daily basis. The App is embedded with an algorithm that flags participants who report fever and any other COVID-19 related symptom.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 101 participants were enrolled; 61% female; median age 23 (interquartile range (IQR): 17-36) years. Usage of the App was 78% (95% confidence interval (CI): 77.0%-78.8%). It increased from 40% on day 1 to a peak of 81% on day 45 and then declined to 59% on day 90. Usage of the App did not significantly vary by site, sex or age. Only 57/6617 (0.86%) records included a report of at least one of the 17 listed COVID-19 related symptoms. The most reported symptom was flu/runny nose (21%) followed by sneezing (15%), with the rest ranging between 2% and 7%. Reports on movements away from home were 45% with 74% going to markets or shops. The participants liked the "Wetaase" App and recommended it for use as an alert system for COVID-19.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Usage of the "Wetaase" App was high (78%) and it was similar across the three study sites, sex and age groups. Reporting of symptoms related to COVID-19 was low. Movements were mainly to markets and shops. Users reported that the App was easy to use and recommended its scale up. We recommend that this App be assessed at a large scale for feasibility, usability and acceptability as an additional tool for increasing alerts on COVID-19 in Uganda and similar settings.
format	article
author	Levicatus Mugenyi Rebecca Namugabwe Nsubuga Irene Wanyana Winters Muttamba Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye Saul Hannington Nsubuga
author_facet	Levicatus Mugenyi Rebecca Namugabwe Nsubuga Irene Wanyana Winters Muttamba Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye Saul Hannington Nsubuga
author_sort	Levicatus Mugenyi
title	Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.
title_short	Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.
title_full	Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.
title_fullStr	Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.
title_full_unstemmed	Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.
title_sort	feasibility of using a mobile app to monitor and report covid-19 related symptoms and people's movements in uganda.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1602bff4627e45f892531a0216ce9028
work_keys_str_mv	AT levicatusmugenyi feasibilityofusingamobileapptomonitorandreportcovid19relatedsymptomsandpeoplesmovementsinuganda AT rebeccanamugabwensubuga feasibilityofusingamobileapptomonitorandreportcovid19relatedsymptomsandpeoplesmovementsinuganda AT irenewanyana feasibilityofusingamobileapptomonitorandreportcovid19relatedsymptomsandpeoplesmovementsinuganda AT wintersmuttamba feasibilityofusingamobileapptomonitorandreportcovid19relatedsymptomsandpeoplesmovementsinuganda AT nazariusmbonatumwesigye feasibilityofusingamobileapptomonitorandreportcovid19relatedsymptomsandpeoplesmovementsinuganda AT saulhanningtonnsubuga feasibilityofusingamobileapptomonitorandreportcovid19relatedsymptomsandpeoplesmovementsinuganda
_version_	1718374868689354752

Feasibility of using a mobile App to monitor and report COVID-19 related symptoms and people's movements in Uganda.

Ejemplares similares