Volume 22, Number 4—April 2016
Dispatch
Effectiveness of a Mobile Short-Message-Service–Based Disease Outbreak Alert System in Kenya
, Ian Njeru, Dejan Zurovac, Shikanga O Tipo, David Kareko, Matilu Mwau, and Kouichi Morita
Table 1
Characteristics of health facilities and their in-charges for intervention and control groups and study periods, Kajiado County, Kenya*
| Characteristic | Preintervention, no. (%) |
Postintervention, no. (%) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control, N = 65 | Intervention, n = 66 | Control, n = 65 | Intervention, n = 66 | p value† | ||
| Health facilities, Kajiado County |
42 (64.6) |
41 (62.1) |
42 (64.6) |
41 (62.1) |
0.767 |
|
| Ownership | ||||||
| Public | 39 (60.0) | 45 (68.2) | 39 (60.0) | 45 (68.2) | 0.329 | |
| Private | 15 (23.1) | 13 (19.7) | 15 (23.1) | 13 (19.7) | 0.637 | |
| FBO/NGO |
11 (16.9) |
8 (12.1) |
11 (16.9) |
8 (12.1) |
0.435 |
|
| Level of care | ||||||
| Hospital/health center | 20 (30.8) | 19 (28.8) | 20 (30.8) | 19 (28.8) | 0.804 | |
| Dispensary | 40 (61.54) | 43 (65.15) | 40 (61.5) | 43 (65.2) | 0.668 | |
| Other facility |
5 (7.7) |
4 (6.1) |
5 (7.7) |
4 (6.1) |
0.712 |
|
| Resource availability | ||||||
| Mobile phone | 65 (100) | 66 (100) | 65 (100) | 66 (100) | – | |
| Electricity | 45 (69.2) | 47 (71.2) | 54 (83.1) | 49 (74.2) | 0.217 | |
| Water | 54 (83.1) | 47 (71.2) | 51 (78.5) | 50 (75.8) | 0.713 | |
| Surveillance focal person | 48 (73.9) | 44 (67.7) | 44 (67.7) | 47 (71.2) | 0.662 | |
| IDSR reporting tool‡ | 22 (33.9) | 23 (34.9) | 34 (52.3) | 32 (48.5) | 0.662 | |
| IDSR job aid |
44 (67.7) |
44 (66.7) |
49 (75.4) |
55 (83.3) |
0.261 |
|
| Characteristic of in-charge | ||||||
| Female sex | 32 (49.2) | 39 (59.1) | 32 (49.2) | 39 (59.1) | 0.257 | |
| Median age, y (IQR)§ | 34 (29–48) | 35 (30–42) | 36 (30–49.5) | 37 (30–44) | 0.677 | |
| Doctor/clinical officer | 12 (18.5) | 15 (22.7) | 16 (24.6) | 13 (19.7) | 0.498 | |
| Nurse | 46 (70.8) | 48 (72.7) | 44 (67.7) | 48 (72.7) | 0.529 | |
| Other healthcare worker | 7 (10.8) | 3 (4.6) | 5 (7.7) | 5 (7.6) | 0.980 | |
*The table does not show data for Busia County because values will be inverse of data for Kajiado County (i.e., N minus n). N = total facilities in both counties. The intervention group is the group of facility in-charges who were exposed to IDSR and mSOS training and to the mSOS intervention; the control group is the group of in-charges who were exposed to IDSR training only. FBO, faith-based organization; IDSR, Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response; in-charge, medical officer in charge of facility; IQR, interquartile range; NGO, nongovernment organization.
†χ2 test was used to compare the proportions between control and intervention groups. Wilcoxon Mann Whitney test was used to compare medians between control and intervention groups (i.e., age of in-charges). Analyses were conducted by using an α level of 0.05. The p value is shown for the postintervention period only.
‡Standardized IDSR paper-based reporting form for immediately notifiable diseases.
§Data are median and Interquartile range rather than numbers and percentages. Denominator excludes 3 facilities with missing values in the preintervention control group and 1 facility with missing values for each of the remaining 3 study groups.