How Nigeria used technology to defeat Ebola

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to certify Nigeria totally free of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) on October 20.

Though the virus continues to spread across West Africa at an alarming rate, Nigeria goes into history as the first country to succeed in containing it.

With all the advanced facilities at their disposal, countries such as Spain, United States, among others are still battling with the scourge of the haemorrhagic .

However, Levick, a public relations outfit, has advised countries finding it difficult to control the disease to learn from Nigeria, which among other factors adapted modern technology to stem the tide of the virus.

“Nigeria focused on technology as a critical and proactive tool to help combat the spread of the virus. Health workers monitoring suspected cases armed themselves with mobile phones and an Android application that helped reduce reporting time, which can normally take up to 12 hours,” Levick said in a statement.

“The technology decreased reporting time to six hours before being reduced to almost nothing. The app and phones that made the real-time updates possible were provided by eHealth and Information Systems Nigeria, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based non-profit research company that operates in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

“In response, health officials distributed informational leaflets and posted billboards in multiple local languages to educate Nigerian citizens on preventive measures and virus symptoms. Health officials immediately understood their main priority was to track any individual that came into contact with the index case. Officials placed Sawyer in isolation and started tracking down every person he had recently come in contact with.

“A group of volunteers partnered with the government and created Ebola Alert, which used Facebook and Twitter to educate Nigerians about the illness. Google Inc.’s Nigerian unit organized training sessions for journalists on how to use Google Trends to identify the top questions the public had about the disease.

“Laboratory technicians conducting tests were also given tablets to scan and upload results to the emergency center data base. In turn, field teams received text-message alerts on their phones informing them of the results immediately.”

On Tuesday, WHO said an estimated 4,447 deaths have been recorded out of 8,914 cases of Ebola recorded since its outbreak in February.

A health official also said there could be 10,000 new cases of Ebola per week within two months.