IeDA*: four letters to improve children’s healthcare in West Africa. This approach is based on the WHO clinical protocol (IMCI) and guides health personnel to accurately diagnose sick children. Data is stored and processed for analysis, reporting and quality control improvements.  IeDA was launched by Tdh in 2014 as a pilot project in 39 centres in the Tougan district in Burkina Faso.

A better diagnosis

What used to be a pilot project in one district is now a major technological innovation: IeDA has been deployed in almost 40 per cent of all health centres (over 720) in Burkina Faso and its use has spread to Mali in late 2017. Several thousand health professionals use IeDA and run more than 200,000 consultations each month. This is a major achievement for the health of children, especially in rural areas: diagnosis has improved and treatment is more adapted to the children’s medical needs. With more than two million children consulted with the help of this tool, Tdh has made a further step towards guaranteeing the right to health to the children of West Africa.

Data to help understand the local situation

In Burkina Faso, IeDA is an important source of first-hand information for the national vital statistics. Real-time data collection provides valuable and essential information to monitor early warning for epidemic outbreaks.

Training staff

Through e-learning, IeDA also develops the competences of local staff in rural areas. “This is another advantage of this product: it includes coaching and supervision systems, and enables us to improve health care workers' training, making them more efficient at diagnosing and treating patients,” says Thierry Agagliate, project co-founder.

Impact

The goal of IeDA is to make qualitative health care sustainable in West Africa. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has been evaluating its impact and cost in Burkina Faso. In the centres implementing IeDA, 92% of the consultations of children under five are made with the innovation. Results clearly show the high acceptance of the tool and a reduction between 6 and 15% of antibiotics over prescription. When IeDA is used, there is a 50% improvement in adherence to the IMCI protocol. If scaled up to the whole country, there would be CHF 33 to 66 savings per centre each month.

Watch the video interview with Karl Blanchet, IeDA Research Director

Outlook

In 2018, we launched a consortium with World Vision and Action contre la Faim to integrate the management of malnutrition and expand the tool in neighboring countries. In the future, Tdh will develop powerful algorithms using Artificial Intelligence to assess the quality of medical consultations in real time and to assist medical teams in different contexts.

*IeDA: Integrated e-Diagnostic Approach

Watch our documentary about the first years of IeDA in Burkina Faso:

We are proud to work on this project with:

• The Ministry of Health from Burkina Faso and Mali;

• Dimagi (USA), our technological partner developing and maintaining the applications;

• The LSHTM (UK), running three independent studies which evaluate the project impact, cost-effectiveness and feasibility;

• Swiss TPH, to improve the algorithm and project analysis;

• EPFL, working with IeDA to develop new tools to improve diagnostic of malnutrition;

• University Hospital of Geneva (Switzerland), undertaking research to mine and extrapolate data's meaning.

For more information visit: www.ieda-project.org