National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria (interdepartmental initiative).
Africa Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI), UNOPS, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 17;14(7):e0217976. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217976. eCollection 2019.
A confounding factor for healthcare programmes in African countries is the inability of essential health tools to reach targeted locations and populations, due to poor Logistics Management Information System (LMIS). In a bid to contribute towards addressing these challenges, a pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the tracking ability, reliability and applicability of EASE App, a novel Smart Phone based Application. The App is designed to provide real-time tracking and tracing of commodities as well as curation of data in a cloud based database with restricted access which can be linked with other databases. In this study, NIPRIMAL was labelled with QR codes, and tracked within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, using the smartphone based EASE App. Data collected showed that the "EASE App" tracking had accuracy of 100% for date and time of scan, operators' codes and product identity; and 92.83±1.69% and 99.83±0.27% accuracy for GPS mapping label for the city and country, respectively. The GPS mapping label for specific streets, roads or districts, gave an accuracy of about 64.28±3.14%. The technology was able to provide real-time data on user unique identity, user location as well as date/time of use, and the feedback report indicated that it was readily deployable and easy to use. The results demonstrate that the "EASE App" is a promising technology that can support supply chain and related data management challenges in resource poor settings. The potential benefit of the EASE App in strengthening LMIS and distribution chain system in Africa as well as future optimization of the App are discussed.
在非洲国家，医疗保健项目面临的一个难题是，由于物流管理信息系统（LMIS）不完善，基本卫生工具无法到达目标地点和人群。为了应对这些挑战，开展了一项试点研究，以评估新型智能手机应用程序 EASE App 的跟踪能力、可靠性和适用性。该应用程序旨在提供实时跟踪和追踪商品，并在基于云的数据库中对数据进行管理，该数据库访问受限，可以与其他数据库链接。在这项研究中，NIPRIMAL 被贴上了 QR 码，并在尼日利亚阿布贾联邦首都地区使用基于智能手机的 EASE App 进行跟踪。收集的数据显示，“EASE App”的跟踪具有 100%的日期和时间扫描准确性、操作人员代码和产品身份准确性；城市和国家的 GPS 映射标签的准确性分别为 92.83±1.69%和 99.83±0.27%。特定街道、道路或地区的 GPS 映射标签的准确性约为 64.28±3.14%。该技术能够实时提供用户唯一身份、用户位置以及使用日期/时间的数据，反馈报告表明它易于部署和使用。结果表明，“EASE App”是一种有前途的技术，可以支持资源匮乏环境下的供应链和相关数据管理挑战。讨论了 EASE App 在加强非洲 LMIS 和分销链系统以及未来对 App 进行优化方面的潜在好处。
