Towards an information ecosystem for animal disease surveillance using voice services

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a solution for disease surveillance and monitoring in the primary animal health care (PAHC) domain that uses inbound voice-based services and voice-and text-based outbound services for connecting rural veterinarians and livestock owners with a PAHC service provider. We describe our findings from the ongoing pilots, where we found that it is crucial to close the loop between data collection and information dissemination. /01…$15.00 health tips, and newsletters, sent out based on user communication preferences gathered at registration. The goal is to afford Afrivet a one-stop place from where the information that is being received from different users can be disseminated to the multiple PAHC role-players. In the design we focus on capabilities to customize (e.g. send via SMS only to cattle owners), localize (disease outbreaks info sent only to affected provinces), and pre-schedule (set-up reminders, seasonal tips beforehand) such messages.