iMarketing Consultants has aligned itself with the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) in the fight against Covid-19 and building local capacity in the development and management of data solutions.
The 100% Namibian owned company focuses on data collection and management, as well as process automation through custom software solutions in the health, corporate and other business sectors.
Client Relations and Operations Manager at iMarketing, Hosea Kambonde said by availing their core services of software development to the MoHSS in good will to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic, they have successfully developed and deployed a custom call logging system for the ministry, to be used in the Covid-19 call centre as they support the ministry and the country in the combat against the virus.
“The idea came after a realisation that the call centre agents were using pesky spreadsheets and double capturing details before any statistics could be drawn. The deployed system makes use of linked data and auto-populate features to allow the agents to save time on manual logging, merging of data, as well as data cleaning processes,” Kambonde informed Inside Business.
With the system in use, he said statistics ranging from the most frequently asked questions to locations from which the most calls are made, are available at a glance from a central dashboard.
Together with Health Information Systems Program (HISP), another organisation also assisting the MoHSS, they have gone further and yielded their services in the implementation and adaptation of the DHIS2 Covid-19 module with the functionality of tracking and monitoring Covid-19 positive participants, as well as the surveillance of participants awaiting results and those that have come into contact with Covid-19 positive participants.
Kambonde said data is quickly becoming if not already the number one driving force of today’s technology, as the world starts to embrace artificial intelligence in the way business is done and the way people live.
“It is important to capture data the right way as it helps us predict the future, identify problems, and make informed decisions about this problems, keeping track of data helps create a baseline for future leaders to better their strategies in resolving issues,” he stated.
With the sensitivity surrounding data capturing and reporting, Kambonde stated that it was an unforeseen situation brought by the outbreak and in general people, systems, and processes were not ready from the get go.
“A good proportion of the response efforts went into implanting data collection and reporting processes and systems, both from the ministry and all institutions that joined to support. In the current phase of the pandemic, we are confident to say there are modern and adequate systems in place for case surveillance, contact tracing, and reporting, while keeping in-line with the recommended world guidelines,” he assured.
Established in late 2016, iMarketing has been involved in projects to support several entities and improve the way they collect, process, and report data. “Between 2017 and 2018, we assisted the MoHSS with a complete data collection and management solution for a national survey measuring the burden of TB disease in Namibia,” recalled Kambonde.
iMarketing Consultants also aided the Africa Health Research Institute (previously known as Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies) in South Africa with the data collection and management aspect of a cutting-edge health screening and scientific research in an area of northern KwaZulu-Natal with one of the highest HIV and tuberculosis prevalence rates in South Africa. -psiririka@nepc.com.na