Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun;9(1):010404.
doi: 10.7189/jogh.09.010404.

Precision Global Health - The case of Ebola: a scoping review

Nefti-Eboni Bempong  1 , Rafael Ruiz De Castañeda  1 , Stefanie Schütte  2 , Isabelle Bolon  1 , Olivia Keiser  1 , Gérard Escher  3 , Antoine Flahault  1   2
Affiliations

Precision Global Health - The case of Ebola: a scoping review

Nefti-Eboni Bempong et al. J Glob Health. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak across West Africa was devastating, acting not only as a wake-up call for the global health community, but also as a catalyst for innovative change and global action. Improved infectious disease monitoring is the stepping-stone toward better disease prevention and control efforts, and recent research has revealed the potential of digital technologies to transform the field of global health. This scoping review aimed to identify which digital technologies may improve disease prevention and control, with regard to the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Methods: A search was conducted on PubMed, EBSCOhost and Web of Science, with search dates ranging from 2013 (01/01/2013) - 2017 (13/06/2017). Data was extracted into a summative table and data synthesized through grouping digital technology domains, using narrative and graphical methods.

Findings: The scoping review identified 82 full-text articles, and revealed big data (48%, n = 39) and modeling (26%, n = 21) technologies to be the most utilized within the Ebola outbreak. Digital technologies were mainly used for surveillance purposes (90%, n = 74), and key challenges were related to scalability and misinformation from social media platforms.

Interpretation: Digital technologies demonstrated their potential during the Ebola outbreak through: more rapid diagnostics, more precise predictions and estimations, increased knowledge transfer, and raising situational awareness through mHealth and social media platforms such as Twitter and Weibo. However, better integration into both citizen and health professionals' communities is necessary to maximise the potential of digital technologies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors has completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Process of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Authors’ affiliation network.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organisation. Ebola situation report(s). 2016. Available: http://apps.who.int/ebola/ebola-situation-reports. Accessed: 12/04/2017.
    1. Centre of Disease, Control and Prevention. Estimating the Future Number of Cases in the Ebola Epidemic – Liberia and Sierra Leone, 2014-2015. 2014. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6303a1.htm. Accessed: 18 April 2018.
    1. Pigott DM, Golding N, Mylne A, Huang Z, Henry A, Weiss D, et al. Mapping the zoonotic niche of Ebola virus disease in Africa. eLife. 2014;3:e04395. doi: 10.7554/eLife.04395. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chertow DS, Kleine C, Edwards J, Scaini R, Guiliani R, Sprecher A. Ebola virus disease in West Africa – clinical manifestations and management. N Engl J Med. 2014;371:2054–7. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1413084. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Siedner MJ, Gostin LO, Cranmer HH, Kraemer DJ. Strengthening the detection of and early response to public health emergencies: lessons from the West African Ebola epidemic. PLoS Med. 2015;12:e1001804. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001804. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms