IeDA - A digital solution to save children's lives

IeDA* is a digital strategy supporting Universal Health Coverage in West Africa to save children’s lives. This application co-created by Tdh and the Ministry of Health in Burkina Faso has digitalised the WHO medical protocol (IMCI) and guides health personnel to diagnose sick children accurately. Data is analysed to improve the quality of care and inform decision-makers. IeDA was conceived by Tdh in 2010 as a pilot project in 39 centres in the Tougan district in Burkina Faso. Today IeDA represents one rare example of digital project at national scale in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A better diagnosis
What used to be a pilot project in one district is now a major technological innovation: by the end of 2020, IeDA will be deployed in 67 per cent of all health centres in Burkina Faso, in two health districts in Mali and in Niger. Thousands of health professionals use IeDA and run between 200,000 and 300,000 consultations in Burkina Faso each month. This is a major achievement for the health of children, especially in rural areas: diagnosis and treatment have improved. Thanks to an extensive network of partnerships, Tdh has enriched IeDA with new features, including point of care tests, interactive web maps and dashboards, monitoring early signs of diseases outbreaks, artificial intelligence analyses and perinatal health digitalisation.
Data to help understand the local situation
IeDA is an important source of first-hand information for the national vital statistics. The data collected in the so far more than 7 million consultations (last update August 2020) are analysed and used to improve the quality of healthcare and inform decision makers. Real-time data collection provides, with the help of artificial intelligence, 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. A London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines (LSHTM) evaluation of IeDA showed significant improvements in quality of care, a high acceptance of the approach from all levels of the health system and cost reduction after initial investments. In the health centres that have the IeDA tool, there is a 92% usage rate in the consultations of children under five. Results show a reduction between 6 and 15% of antibiotics prescription and a 50% improvement in adherence to the IMCI protocol when IeDA is used. If scaled up to the whole country, there would be between 750,000 and 1.5 million CHF savings each year.
Outlook
A version customised for India is under development and will be deployed in the beginning of 2021 in Jharkhand state.
Tdh is preparing the field so that by the end of 2020, the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso can take full control of the digital solution IeDA and directly manage it.
In 2020, we are completing our IeDA approach with the digitalization of protocols for antenatal, delivery and postnatal care.
In 2018, we launched a consortium with World Vision and Action against Hunger to integrate the management of malnutrition to improve the treatment of malnourished children and ensure proper follow up. This alliance (ALeDIA) will also help reduce the fragmentation in digital health and improve data management.
*IeDA: Integrated e-Diagnostic Approach
Watch our documentary about the first years of IeDA in Burkina Faso (2017):
We are proud to work on this project with:
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The Ministry of Health from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger;
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Dimagi (USA), our technological partner developing and maintaining the applications;
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The LSHTM (UK), running three independent studies which evaluate the project impact, cost-effectiveness and feasibility;
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Swiss TPH, to improve the algorithm and project analysis;
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EPFL, working with IeDA to develop new tools to improve diagnostic of malnutrition;
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University Hospital of Geneva (Switzerland), undertaking research to mine and extrapolate data's meaning.
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University of Geneva for data analysis with artificial intelligence;
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World Vision and Action against Hunger in the ALeDIA consortium to enhance the integrated approach;
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FIND, our strategic partners to improve diagnostics at clinic level;
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Cloudera Foundation, providing expertise and tools to analyse about a billion of data points;
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John Hopkins University for independent evaluations.
Discover external publications on IeDA:
University of Geneva press release on artificial intelligence
"We have drastically reduced the number of incorrect diagnoses thanks to IeDA and the children benefit from better treatment."
Dr. Robert Kargougou, Secretary General for the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso
Read more...Where we work
Supported by
Financial partners

The Global Fund partnership mobilizes and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in countries and communities most in need: https://www.theglobalfund.org/en
Financial partners

The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) funds relief operations for victims of natural disasters and conflicts outside of the European Union.
> ec.europa.eu/echo
Financial partners

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is Switzerland’s international development cooperation agency within the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). By providing financial means, it supports more than forty projects of Terre des hommes in several geographical regions. Terre des hommes cooperates directly with the SDC, particularly with the departments Regional Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Cooperation with Eastern Europe.
> www.ddc.admin.ch
Financial partners

The Novartis Foundation aims at improving access to adequate healthcare in low- and middle-income countries through innovative and outcome-based approaches that guarantee efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. Its focus is on reducing both infectious and non-communicable diseases through projects that can be scaled up and are developed through local capacity with the help of international research and technical expertise.
In Burkina Faso, the Foundation supports the IeDA project (Integrated e-Diagnostic Approach), through which data from 400 rural primary health centers are computerized and analyzed in order to increase the efficacy of treating children under the age of five years and thus reduce child mortality.
Financial partners

UNICEF is a UN agency that promotes children’s rights, ensures their development and fights against all poverty, violence, disease and discrimination they may face. UNICEF supports the activities of Tdh in various fields, such as in the fight against child trafficking, juvenile justice, malnutrition, in psychosocial activities or in emergency operations.
> www.unicef.org
Financial partners

As a provider of international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education work, GIZ is dedicated to building a future worth living around the world: https://www.giz.de/en
Financial partners

The European Union (EU), composed of the Member States and the European Commission, is the world’s biggest aid donor. The Commission’s EuropeAid co-operation office manages EU external aid programmes and implements development assistance worldwide. EuropeAid works in close collaboration with its partners to ensure coherence, complementarity and coordination in its assistance programmes. EuropeAid currently supports the projects of Terre des hommes against violence towards children (in Afghanistan and in Burkina Faso), for food security (in Burkina Faso) and for child protection and rights (in Brazil, Burundi and in Haiti). (Situation 04.11.2016)
Financial partners

We use our combined nonprofit and technical expertise to help grantees apply cutting-edge technology to program areas where a new or different use of data can unlock significant impact. For technology to be an effective lever for change, true partnerships are essential. We aim to establish deep and long-term partnerships with organizations and institutions globally who recognize the systemic political, social, and economic causes of problems such as poverty, climate change, or health inequities and who use data to make decisions and take action.
Financial partners

ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies - ICTs.
Financial partners

Unitaid works with partner organizations to leverage innovation for global health.
Financial partners

Our mission is turning complex diagnostic challenges into simple solutions to overcome diseases of poverty and transform lives.
Financial partners

We help people see and understand data. Seven words that drive everything we do. And they've never been more important.