Digital Health

Digital tools to strengthen COVID-19 management

The use of digital tools to screen, track tests, and transmit results allows rapid clinical decision-making throughout the diagnostic care cascade. At a policy level, accurate real-time data strengthens surveillance systems and guides the design and implementation of targeted testing strategies.

FIND is working with Ministries of Health (MoH), academic institutions, technology companies, and other implementing partners to generate evidence on the use of digital tools for COVID-19 management, and to design and implement service delivery models that use digital technologies to decentralize access to testing.

As part of this work, FIND collaborated with MoH partners in India, Nigeria, and Rwanda to highlight how digital tools have been implemented for COVID-19 management, their impact and key success factors, as well as the challenges faced on the ground. The studies show how these systems were developed and scaled up, and provide clear operational insights that can be useful for other countries pursuing similar efforts.

Case studies were conducted in India, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

Case study reports	Description
	India introduced new digital tools for self-screening and contract tracing, with inbuilt risk prediction algorithms, to inform targeted testing strategies. Where local health providers implemented responsive interventions based on these data science insights, a marked increase in testing efficiency was seen.
	Nigeria rapidly adapted and scaled up its pre-existing digital Surveillance, Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) at the start of the pandemic. This established a single comprehensive digital platform for both data management and case management, which can be accessed at all levels of the health system, preventing fragmentation or duplication that can result from deployment of multiple digital tools.
	Rwanda’s use of digital technologies for COVID-19 built on a broader history of investment in digital health infrastructure. A paperless testing process, with automated integration of data across all sites in both public and private sectors, minimized the health system strain associated with data management and communication.