Surveillance system in Chagas facilitated by information and communication technologies

Abstract

The application of ICTs to systems for the surveillance of priority diseases in Latin America – such as the Chagas Disease – is a valuable contribution towards controlling a disease that poses a serious public health problem. This study undertook the assessment of a system for epidemiological surveillance and healthcare based on information and communication technologies (ICTs), designed to detect Chagas seropositive subjects and provide health care for them, in an endemic region of Argentina. The actions were planned using two healthcare flowcharts for two target populations (children under 15 years of age and pregnant women) residing in three counties of the Córdoba province, and consisted of development of a Chagas surveillance system based on ICTs (ICTs-SSC), agreements with government and educational authorities, training of local field agents and health care teams for data filtering and incorporation, and monitoring of patients using the new system. Pre- and post-intervention records were statistically analyzed. The study population totaled 11,585 children under 15 years of age, (ICTs group, n = 5719; control group, n = 5866, obtained from secondary data sources of the Ministry of Health of the Córdoba Province). Higher record frequencies were obtained for the ICTs group; 50% of the control group contained no data for the variables under study. The ICTs-SSC was incorporated to the surveillance systems of the Ministries of Health of the regions under study, and there was a strong commitment of the healthcare teams both at local and government levels.