A mobile application developed for the National COVID-19 Emergency Response Center (NaCOVERC) has made it easier for officials in Sierra Leone to track services at quarantine facilities. The Quarantine App can be used to log and track food delivery, date in and expected date out of quarantined persons, psychosocial support and other services in real-time.

Benjamin Davies, Research and Operations Manager, and Foday Kamara, Software Developer HCD Incubator DSTI have trained Quarantine Supervisors, Ops Coordinators, Field Managers, and all-district  ICT staff to use the Quarantine App which was developed with the support of DSTI partner Dimagi.

“Before this app was developed, one would have to log information in a book and then get a data entry clerk to enter it on a computer and then find a reliable internet connection to send that information to Freetown, ” says Davies.

The training sessions took place over thirteen weeks at District COVID-19 Emergency Response Center (DICOVERC) nationwide. 

”With the App, the moment monitors go to the site, enter the information, and click sync, the server makes the information readily available nationwide. It allows for real-time decision-making based on the facts on the ground at that particular moment,” says Kamara. 

Since the rollout of the app in July, there has been a significant reduction in complaints made by contacts in quarantine facilities. The Quarantine App is connected to the 117 Call Center so accurate information could be provided to persons in quarantine..

Over 11,144 people have been in quarantine so far according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation September 21 Situation Report on Covid-19.

”We would have had the App and the tablets with end-users earlier but the lack of flights and Covid-19 restrictions slowed down the rollout process, ”  said Wilsona Jalloh, Acting Team Lead, Human Capital Development Incubator. 

”We are thrilled to have collaborated with our global and local partners  to make our quarantined homes and centres easier to manage for our frontline workers, and more suitable for citizens affected by Covid-19.”

Since the outbreak, Sierra Leone has used technology to replace inefficient manual processes and in so doing strengthened the wider healthcare system and improve the national pandemic response.