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Phase: Final Evaluation

Tataafo a social media/web mining platform for demand generation and routine monitoring of immunization coverage

Mined social data on immunization and occurrence of vaccine preventable diseases will generate information trends for improvement & learning

Photo of Ibrahim Gobir
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Describe what you intend to do and how you'll do it in one sentence (required 250 Characters)

Savannah Health Innovations System aims to use Tataafo a cloud-based platform to mine social data on immunization coverage and occurrence of vaccine preventable diseases and utilize mined information trends for improvement & learning

Explain the idea (less than 2,000 characters)

Tataafo as event based surveillance platform at Nigeria Center for Disease Control Tataafo as event based surveillance platform at Nigeria Center for Disease Control
Tataafo as a platform for social data learning and decision-making for immunization programs Tataafo as a platform for social data learning and decision-making for immunization programs
Problems include public sentiment toward vaccines and lack of public’s vaccine confidence, low vaccine coverage, weak surveillance for coverage and lack of robust community level platform for timely detection of epidemiological signals. Social media has revolutionized the way people discuss personal and public health concerns. The public in general are the beneficiaries of this solution as users of internet and social media. The benefits include addressing public sentiments and vaccine confidence concerns that caregivers might have through public sharing of information; improved access to user feedback on vaccine uptake/misconceptions, interactive communities to encourage caregivers; enhanced surveillance for vaccine coverage and timely detection of epidemiological signals at community level; utilization of mined social data for targeted immunization intervention. Tataafo is currently being used by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) as event-based surveillance platform for epidemic prone diseases using local names for these diseases. It utilizes text mining, analysis and natural language processing to determine the occurrence of outbreaks based on internet-media interactions. Working through National Primary Health Development Agency (NPHCDA), the platform will automatically pull trending data on a dashboard daily on public immunization behaviors, coverage which will then be analyzed to reflect trends in public immunization knowledge, uptake, coverage and disease occurrence. The analysis will reflect user demography such as gender and age groups including location based on geocoordinates. This will drive the creation of target contents on immunization promoted on various social media platform to address issues identified and serves as a guide for targeted immunization to improve coverage. Follow up surveys will be sent out on via same social media to assess improvements in coverage, knowledge, interventions and other areas in need.

Which part(s) of the world does this idea target?

  • Western Africa

Geographic Focus (less than 250 Characters)

This is a community level intervention that targets all communities in Nigeria based on wide acceptance and use of social media as a platform for daily real time interaction

Who are your end users and how well do you know them? (750 characters)

Social media websites are increasingly being utilized by the public as a platform for expressing health concerns and discuss contentious public health issues. Users translates to all Nigerians who utilize internet and social media and are caregivers. We have leveraged deployment of Tataafo at NCDC to surveil for epidemic prone diseases thereby facilitating early detection, prevention and response to diseases. Our experience with Tataafo makes the end users well known to us having had to create multiple two-way interactive platform in response to results generated by Tataafo, solicitation of public opinions through polls and surveys and health promotion using same platform

How is the idea unique? (750 Characters)

This platform is uniquely leveraging sustainable daily human-machine interactions using social media as a low-cost approach of reaching out to a lot of people. Unlike other existing mining platforms, we will configure this to retrieve trending information utilizing local keywords used at site searches for immunization and vaccine preventable disease occurrence. The follow up targeted social media blast as an intervention and feedback based on analyzed results of mined social data coupled with online surveys for improvements by users/bloggers are also unique. Successful roll out is anticipated with our experience on Tataafo for NCDC, in-house epidemiology and informatics team which will be leveraged for this project through the NPHCDA

Idea Proposal Stage (Select 1)

  • Early Adoption: We have completed a pilot and analyzed the impact of that pilot on the intended users of the idea. I have proof of user uptake (i.e. 16% to 49% of the target population or 1,000 to 50,000 users).

How many months are required for the project idea? (140 characters)

It will take 3 months to enhance Tataafo for deployment, while the desired impact will be measured on an ongoing basis over 12 months

Organization Name (less than 140 characters)

Savannah Health Innovation Systems Limited (SHISL)

Type of Submitter

  • We are a Private Sector Corporation

Organizational Characteristics

  • Female-led organization
  • Indigenous-led organization
  • Youth-led organization

Organization Location (less than 140 Characters)

Savannah Health Innovation Systems is at Suite 213, The Ruby Centre, Plot 762 Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II Abuja Nigeria

What is the current scale of your organization’s work?

  • National (expansive reach within one country)

Website URL

http://savannahinnovations.com/

Tell us more about your organization/company (1-2 sentences)

Savannah Health Innovation Systems Limited is a creative systems product development company focused on delivering creative and bespoke services to its client as exemplified by use of technology to improve public health programs in Nigeria. The project is founded on our locally responsive and collaborative approach to providing solutions; and commitment to integrating end users into all stages of the product development and utilization cycle.

Who will work alongside your organization in the project idea? (750 characters)

SHISL will work alongside NPHCDA, NCDC where Tataafo is already in place as a event-based surveillance platform and its technical partner Georgetown University. Our approach to government engagement entails startup meeting to sensitize them on the benefits of adopting such platform, ensuring inclusion in the requirement sessions, hosting the platform within their government data centers in addition to having a resident member of the team onsite and joint management of the platform including the feedback mechanisms. This process of engagement will facilitate securing of their buy-in and creation of a framework for Tataafo’s sustainability

How many people are on your team?

6

Tell us more about you and your team

SHISL prioritizes provision of technology-based solutions that improve system development, tackle problems and improve efficiency. The team’s diversity and experience working in public health field in Nigeria through the government entities makes the team a perfect fit for purpose. SHISL will work with these entities to facilitate engagements, requirement gathering and implementation of the project. SHISL has Public Health Specialists Mercy Niyang who implements simple sustainable strategies using various quality improvement approaches to address public health problems, Winifred Ukponu currently leading case management for epidemic prone diseases at NCDC and Adachioma Ihueze currently driving Tataafo as event-based surveillance at NCDC. They will participate in the requirement gathering and drive the data analysis and use. The Health Informatics team of Charles Ogbonna, Emeka Madubuko and Arinze Eze will lead the requirement gathering session and the Tataafo enhancements

Overview of How Your Concept Has Evolved (5-6 sentences):

The beneficiary feedback and user experience map avail us a better understanding of the main drivers and barriers to immunization uptake and how social media intervention contents can be tailored to that. Our idea has evolved through the business model activity by ensuring that our proposed interventions are from the perspective of what the beneficiaries see as a need to be addressed, ease of access to unbiased information where public opinion counts, how they will feel empowered to access immunization from a client centered approach and maintaining a balance with what the users of Tataafo are promoting. From the webinars, we aligned our model with the human centered design giving that all the data and intervention are within social media

Viability (3-4 sentences and activity upload):

https://canvanizer.com/canvas/rgFDK8tBHxhCZ. Tafaafo has been effective in preventing outbreak through early identification, facilitating rapid response and also manage health rumors on social media. It is our expectation based on similar roll out with NCDC that NPHCDA as part of ownership will provide staff that will be mentored to maintain it since it will be hosted with them in addition to other partners providing input into information to be shared with the public as part of intervention. Being a technologically driven platform hosted on the web with a one-off setup cost that derives its information source from passive social media users, cost volatility is unlikely while staff necessary to maintain it are government employees

Feasibility (3-4 sentences):

Tataafo as deployed at the NCDC is highly sensitive as its social media data has correlated well with outbreaks. The platform is intuitive in tracking the spread of epidemic prone diseases as inputs helps to establish the pattern of spread. The interaction with the public has increased both their awareness and reporting of public health events that are unreported. Its’s integration into the routine surveillance has fostered collaborations between organizations in their joint efforts to reduce epidemic prone diseases outbreaks which will be leveraged to increase immunization uptake and coverage

Desirability (3-4 sentences and activity upload):

Our beneficiaries use social media as an avenue to learn, share personal information, critic public interventions and access free feedback from their peers. Additional insight from our beneficiaries include accepting the use of social media for accessing independent and widely publicized information addressing vaccination myths; a medium for sharing concerns and seeing if they are alone with those concerns; how people deal with reactions to immunization; availability of free immunization services close to them; and proven benefits of immunization to children and pregnant mothers

Community Focus (2-3 sentences):

Immunization coverage is low and the outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases e.g. measles, has been on the increase in the last 2 years with associated morbidity and mortality. We are leveraging existing high usage of social media and internet by the community for expressing health concerns, discuss contentious public health issues and reach out to a lot of people to access immunization. Follow up targeted social media blast as an intervention and feedback based on analyzed results of mined social data with online surveys for improvements by users/bloggers creates an environment for success

Community Impact (2-3 sentences):

A well informed and empowered community on vaccination with demystified myths on it and a demonstrable increase in immunization uptake. This will also translate to an increased immunization coverage and steady reduction in the outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases (VPD). The increased uptake and coverage should be immediate in the first 6 months; reduction in occurrence of VPD will be over a period of 1-2 years; while the inbuilt sustainability strategy of having it as NPHCDA and the NCDC led activities that facilitates ownership will ensure continuity beyond funding from Gates Foundation

7 comments

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Photo of Ashley Tillman
Team

Hi Ibrahim Gobir I was wondering if you could clarify for me a few more details about your initial target end users and some of your specific insights around caregivers and how your concept connects to their needs, incentives, and solves their challenges?

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Photo of Ibrahim Gobir
Team

Most Nigerians use one social medium platform or the other either for communication, learning, recreational purposes, sharing of information, inquiries etc. Our care givers fall within this cohort with experience and evidence showing that most of them react more and take up health services based on peer influence, peer learning, peer reviews and experiential information shared mostly from social media platforms.
A need for example will be a caregiver trying to figure out a way to address his/her concerns about erroneous harmful effect of vaccines but also want to have their children immunized. Information shared through their peers on social media can address not just the concern with regards to correcting the erroneous beliefs especially through a two-way communication fora but also demonstrating the additional benefits of immunizations thereby motivating them to take up the immunization.

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Photo of Daniel Mathon
Team

Hi Ibrahim Gobir - Thanks for sharing your idea. Are there other areas outside of immunization where the tool is already being used? I could see it being particularly useful for early identification of disease outbreaks in specific locations.

For the immunization use case do you foresee the primary use for the technology to be the identification of locations where this is poor/strong immunization search and social media activity to then target? If so, what would be the next step? Targeted social media postings to those regions with low interest, or those with high interest? What would be the primary benefits over a broader social media campaign? Thanks!

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Photo of Ibrahim Gobir
Team

Thank you for your post. Yes, it is being used as a platform for disease surveillance in Nigeria through the Nigeria Center Disease Control (NCDC). It currently mines social media within for rumors on epidemic prone diseases that triggers an investigation, confirm if it is a suspect/case/or rumor to be discarded. For immunization use, Yes we foresee the primary use to be the identification of locations where immunization coverage/uptake is either poor or strong and use social media activity to then target them. The next step is targeted social media postings to those regions with low coverage to increase sensitization, uptake and coverage. It will also target those with high coverage to learn from them on how they achieved a better coverage and uptake. Survey will also be posted as part of these two processes. These all translate to use of social media as intervention, monitoring, quality improvement and dissemination of best practices platform that factors socio-demographic characteristic of users/responders. Regards

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Photo of Marichu Carstensen
Team

Hi Ibrahim, I think this can really be useful in most countries that are very active in social media. One of those the countries is the Philippines, we had a very serious vaccine scare that affected the trust for vaccination. To detect this early and to do something about it through your strategy could be helpful.

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Photo of Manisha Laroia
Team

Hey Ibrahim Gobir 
Thank you for sharing this very interesting idea.
While the evaluation phase is on...we would encourage you to also look at our other OpenIDEOvaccine challenge and share your innovation there also. It would make a good fit.
Please have a look:
https://www.openideo.com/challenge-briefs/infuse-urban-immunization

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Spam
Photo of Ibrahim Gobir
Team

Thank you Manisha. Will sure do that

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