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Health minister launches dashboard, app to track surge in dengue
The app which will give predictive analysis of communicable diseases at least four weeks in advance and will also be used to monitor the health condition of health workers
Bengaluru
Amid an alarming rise in dengue cases in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, Karnataka health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Friday launched a disease surveillance dashboard and a mobile application for effective monitoring of the vector-borne disease.
PRISM-H (Platform For Research, Integrated Surveillance and Management of Health), a disease surveillance dashboard and mobile application, was launched by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka (DHFW-GoK) and the BBMP in partnership with ARTPARK (AI & Robotics Technology Park) at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to develop predictive analytics and assist policymakers and public health officials in preparing for outbreaks and managing disease control activities.
The app which will give predictive analysis of communicable diseases at least four weeks in advance and will also be used to monitor the health condition of health workers, spread of communicable diseases and track test reports, the health department said in a press release.
The disease surveillance dashboard will provide a map of outbreaks across Karnataka at district and sub-district levels along with case trends from across years. A four-week predictive risk map of outbreaks will also be made available to state and district officers.
In addition to predictions, data from multiple sources is being standardised and streamlined for improved analysis. In order to capture real-time data from on-ground surveys, DHFW-GoK and BBMP will leverage the mobile app. Both the dashboard and mobile app are focused on dengue to begin with, and the aim is to expand to additional diseases in the future,
The disease surveillance dashboard has been developed for policymakers, public health decision-makers, district health officers among others for monitoring diseases at district and state levels, to inform advisories and enable data-driven policymaking, day-to-day management, interventions and resource planning etc.
Meanwhile, the mobile application has been developed for Asha workers to streamline survey-related activities, for workers to streamline source reduction activities, for medical officers to verify and review activities, and health care workers for training.
Over the past two months, the city has seen a surge in dengue cases. This year, the city’s dengue tally touched 4,703 as of September 7, according to the state health department. In July, there were 1,649 cases, in August, there were 1,589, and in September, 416 cases have been reported in Bengaluru.
The Bengaluru East division reported the highest number of cases, with 1,218, followed by the south division with 1,003 cases. The Mahadevapura zone recorded 875 cases, while the east zone saw 635 cases.
The health minister on Thursday, reviewed the situation in Bengaluru, along with the BBMP. According to Rao, the stagnant rainwater is causing an increase in Aedes mosquitoes. “Seven suspected deaths were reported of which three are confirmed and report of four cases is awaited. The cases have spiked, but it is not alarming and we will bring it down through various preventive measures,” Rao added
Acknowledging the shortage of medical staff within the BBMP, the health minister outlined steps to address the issue. “We are aware of the shortage of ANM (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife) staff. We have decided to increase their salaries by ₹ 6,000. Previously, they received ₹12,000, and now they will receive ₹18,000. There is a shortage of 179 ANM workers,” Rao said.
Speaking on the occasion of unveiling the dashboard on Friday, Raghu Dharmaraju, CEO of ARTPARK said, “Times of crisis like Covid, force us all – government, researchers, industry and startups – to work together to bring technology to solve societal challenges. The challenge is to sustain such collaborations when things seem alright and continue to build capabilities that will help with challenges when they come.”
“ARTPARK’s role is that of an orchestrator of such collaborative innovation. A lot of credit to GoK and BBMP for not resting and thinking futuristically to build these systems to prepare for challenges ahead. In a world where climate change is bringing new kinds of crises to new places every day, we must be prepared,” Dharmaraju added.
