Applying a mobile survey tool for assessing lymphatic filariasis morbidity in Mtwara Municipal Council of Tanzania

Abstract

Background: A number of methods have been used to estimate lymphatic filariasis (LF) morbidity, including: routine programmatic data, cluster random surveys and the "town crier" method. Currently, few accurate data exist on the global LF morbidity burden in Tanzania. We aimed to estimate prevalence of lymphedema and hydrocele in Mtwara Municipal Council using mobile phone based survey. Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adults of Mtwara Municipal council with access to mobile phones. A sample size of at least 384 completed surveys was required to estimate prevalence of lymphedema (both males and females) and hydrocele (males only) morbidity of 50% within a 5% error margin given a 5% level of significance and 95% confidence level. Eligible mobile phone users received a short message text (SMS) requesting consent to participate in the survey. A total of 10 questions were administered via interactive SMS through the GeoPoll, a survey platform developed by Mobile Accord (www. geopoll.com).Results: The survey was completed over a period of 4 days. A total of 8,759 surveys were sent to mobile phone subscribers of whom 1,330 (15.2%) opted-in to complete the survey. A total of 492 (37.0% of those opted-in, 384 male and 108 female) people completed the survey. Lymphedema and hydrocele signs were reported by 20.9% (95% CI, 17.4-24.8) and 20.6% (95% CI, 16.6-25.0) of respondents, respectively. Majority of hydrocele patients (59.5%) and 46.6% of lymphedema patients reported having sought treatment. The proportion of patients reporting similar symptoms among friends and relatives was 66.0% and 70.9% for lymphedema and hydrocele, respectively. Conclusions:The findings suggest that mobile phone based surveys are a practical approach of undertaking morbidity surveys. While further surveys are needed to verify the findings, this approach can be expected to encourage identification of lymphedema and hydrocele morbidity at community level and provide evidence where further morbidity surveys are warranted.

Mapping the global distribution of Buruli ulcer: a systematic review with evidence consensus

“…24 Estimates of the frequencies of the common presentations of these diseases and Buruli ulcer were obtained from literature review and expert opinion (Saunderson P, unpublished). 23,25–27 For each confounding disease, the frequency of each presentation shared with Buruli ulcer was multiplied by the frequency of the presentation among Buruli ulcer cases, and the products were summed to generate a symptom overlap score (appendix). For each country, the symptom overlap scores for its endemic confounding diseases were summed, then downweighted if health expenditure was high or medium.…”

Mobile Health Strategies to Tackle Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases With Recommendations From Innovative Experiences: Systematic Review (Preprint)

“…The studies were highly heterogeneous in their design, resulting from their heterogeneous objectives. Six (46%) studies [32][33][34][35][36][37] were reported to be community-based cross-sectional studies with the main objective of epidemiologically mapping a specific disease based on its clinical symptoms. Four out of 13 (31%) studies had different designs as follows: a mixed-methods approach to define challenges to be considered [38]; different implementation scenarios for a specific mHealth intervention [39]; the sustainability of an intervention [40]; and the process of developing a specific mHealth tool or assessing its usability [10,38].…”

“…Only eight different mHealth interventions were identified (Table 2). Three were based on sending SMS text messages between health workers and a central web system [33][34][35]37,39,41,43]. Text messaging is an easy technology to use and, as these studies show, is useful for motivating patients to complete treatments.…”

Mapping the Global Distribution of Buruli Ulcer Through a Systematic Review with an Evidence Consensus Approach

“…Estimates of the frequencies of the common presentations of these diseases and BU were obtained from literature review and expert opinion. 24,[26][27][28][29] For each confounding disease, the frequency of each presentation shared with BU was multiplied by the frequency of the presentation among BU cases, and the products summed to generate a symptom overlap score (Table S1, Supplementary File).…”