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Editorial
. 2020 Jul;103(1):3-5.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0506. Epub 2020 May 29.

Mobile Health Technology for Enhancing the COVID-19 Response in Africa: A Potential Game Changer?

Jean B Nachega  1   2   3 , Rory Leisegang  4   5 , Oscar Kallay  6 , Edward J Mills  7 , Alimuddin Zumla  8   9 , Richard T Lester  10
Affiliations
Editorial

Mobile Health Technology for Enhancing the COVID-19 Response in Africa: A Potential Game Changer?

Jean B Nachega et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Jul.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: J. B. N. is also a coprincipal investigator of TOGETHER, an adaptive randomized clinical trial of novel agents for treatment of high-risk outpatient COVID-19 patients in South Africa; supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and a member of COVID-19 Scientific Committee of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. R. T. L. is an infectious disease specialist and global health researcher with support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Michael Smith Foundation, for Health Research and Grand Challenges Canada, and is cofounder of the WelTel (www.weltelhealth.com), as well as a member of the roster of experts for the WHO Task Force for Digital Health. He served on the front lines of the 2003 SARS epidemic and led a consortium on the Ebola outbreak response in 2014. Sir Zumla is co-PI of the Pan-African Network on Emerging and Re-Emerging Infections (PANDORA-ID-NET: https://www.pandora-id.net/) funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Sir Zumla is recipient of a National Institutes of Health Research senior investigator award.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Illustrative COVID-19 mHealth initiatives across Africa (not exhaustive). DHIS2 = District Health Information Software 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization , 2020. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-2019) Situation Reports. Available at: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situatio.... Accessed May 10, 2020.
    1. WHO , 2020. New WHO Estimates: Up to 190000 People Could Die of COVID-19 in Africa if Not Controlled. Available at: https://www.afro.who.int/news/new-who-estimates-190-000-people-could-die.... Accessed May 10, 2020.
    1. Nachega JB, Seydi M, Zumla A, 2020. The late arrival of COVID-19 in Africa - mitigating pan-continental spread. Clin Infect Dis ciaa353. 10.1093/cid/ciaa353. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lester RT, et al. 2010. Effects of a mobile phone short message service on antiretroviral treatment adherence in Kenya (WelTel Kenya1): a randomised trial. Lancet 376: 1838–1845. - PubMed
    1. Holst C, Sukums F, Radovanovic D, Ngowi B, Noll J, Winkler AS, 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa—the new breeding ground for global digital health. Lancet Digital Health 2: e160–e162. - PubMed

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