I had the pleasure last week of spending a few days with Bernard Wambu (pictured) of the Kenya Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (the MOH in Kenya is split into a public health part and a clinical medicine part) in the areas around Nakuru, Kenya. Bernard was one of the public health officers using the mobile phone version of EpiSurveyor to conduct exit interviews of moms attending the Malezi Bora (child health) week, which happens twice a year in Kenya as a project of the ministry and UNICEF.

During Malezi Bora, the ministry makes a huge effort to ensure that all supplies needed for essential child health interventions are in stock and up to date, and an equal effort to make sure the public knows that this is so. The idea is to get moms to bring their kids in for a "one stop shop" for Vitamin A, vaccinations, deworming and nutritional education, among other things.

This was the first time EpiSurveyor on cellphones has been used for a national data collection activity and I was just along for the ride: the exit interview was developed by the Ministry, set up online at the episurveyor website by ministry personnel, and we helped to train the 30+ officers in how to use it on the mobile phone. The great part, of course, is that when the ministry wants to collect some other kind of data in the future, WE won't have to show them how, or do it for them: the cycle of dependency on consultants is broken.

It was actually very funny on the first day we were out. Bernard was collecting exit interviews, and after a few I said "hey, I've got my laptop and a cell modem: why don't we go to the website and see what data has been entered?" We logged in and Bernard, who is also the supervisor for the data collection, immediately saw that all provinces but one had been collecting exit interviews.

Well, he immediately picks up his cell and calls the officers from that province and asks why they haven't collected any data yet -- and the ensuing conversation was both historic and hilarious, as the supervisee realized that his or her boss was able to track his performance in real time!  Dismaying, perhaps, for the supervisee, but a brilliant moment for public health.

In any case, there's no doubt of the great improvement represented by this use of EpiSurveyor: last year's data from Malezi Bora hasn't even been ENTERED yet (it was collected on paper), but this year's data is updated online and in real time!