Lessons from the Field

Adaptation of an electronic dashboard to monitor HIV viral load testing in Côte d’Ivoire

Mary Kirk, Paul H. Assoa, Casey Iiams-Hauser, Yves-Rolland Kouabenan, Jennifer Antilla, Caleb Steele-Lane, Greg Rossum, Pascal Komena, Patricia Sadate Ngatchou, Nadine Abiola, Alain Kouakou, Adama Pongathie, Jean B. Koffi, Christiane Adje, Lucy A. Perrone
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine | Vol 10, No 1 | a1284 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v10i1.1284 | © 2021 Mary Kirk, Paul H. Assoa, Casey Iiams-Hauser, Yves-Rolland Kouabenan, Jennifer Antilla, Caleb Steele-Lane, Greg Rossum, Pascal Komena, Patricia Sadate Ngatchou, Nadine Abiola, Alain Kouakou, Adama Pongathie, Jean B. Koffi, Christiane Adje, Lucy A. Perrone | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 03 June 2020 | Published: 17 May 2021

About the author(s)

Mary Kirk, I-TECH, Department of Global Health, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Paul H. Assoa, International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Casey Iiams-Hauser, I-TECH, Department of Global Health, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Yves-Rolland Kouabenan, International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Jennifer Antilla, Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Caleb Steele-Lane, I-TECH, Department of Global Health, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Greg Rossum, I-TECH, Department of Global Health, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Pascal Komena, International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Patricia Sadate Ngatchou, I-TECH, Department of Global Health, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
Nadine Abiola, International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Alain Kouakou, Direction de l’Informatique et de l’Information Sanitaire (DIIS), Ministry of Health, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Adama Pongathie, Direction de l’Informatique et de l’Information Sanitaire (DIIS), Ministry of Health, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Jean B. Koffi, Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Christiane Adje, Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Lucy A. Perrone, I-TECH, Department of Global Health, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States

Abstract

Background: The Ministère de le Santé et de l’Hygiène Publique in Côte d’Ivoire and the international community have invested in health information systems in Côte d’Ivoire since 2009, including electronic laboratory information systems. These systems have been implemented in more than 80 laboratories to date and capture all test results produced from these laboratories, including HIV viral load (VL) testing. In 2018 the national HIV programme in Côte d’Ivoire requested international support to develop real-time tools such as dashboards to aggregate and display test-specific data such as HIV VL testing to support the country’s programmatic response to HIV.

Intervention: The VL dashboard was adapted in 2018 using source software code obtained from the Kenyan Ministry of Health and modified for the Ivorian context. The dashboard enables users to assess relevant clinical data from all Ivoirians living with HIV who undergo VL testing through dashboard data visualisations, including the number of VL tests, kinds of samples tested, and VL levels stratified by demographics and geographic location.

Lessons learnt: The VL dashboard enables rapid analysis of VL testing data from across the country and enables the national HIV programme, donors and partners to respond rapidly to issues pertaining to access, turn-around times and others.

Recommendations: Adapting existing open-source software is an effective and efficient way to implement transformative tools such as dashboards. The VL dashboard will likely be an essential tool for Côte d’Ivoire to meet the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 90-90-90 targets.


Keywords

HIV viral load; electronic dashboard; patient monitoring; laboratory information system; Côte d’Ivoire

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