Digital Outbreak Response System: A Research Study on the Use of the Go.Data Tool for Ebola Outbreak Data Management in Uganda

Abstract

Alex Mirugwe* and John Baptist Kibanga

There is a growing global interest in adopting digital tools during public health emergencies. Several tools have been developed to improve pandemic management activities, such as case investigations, contact tracing and follow-up of contacts’ health status, data management and analysis, giving epidemiologists rapid warnings of potential virus exposure, and evaluation of different public health response measures. In an effort to control the September 2022 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Uganda, the ministry of health adopted the Go.Data tool to manage the outbreak data. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of the Go.Data tool as a digital outbreak management system. We discuss the experiences, challenges, best practices, and recommendations.