Innovations can produce positive health outcomes for more people, faster, better, affordably and hopefully, sustainably. This creative thinking is especially important during a pandemic, when travel is restricted, supply is limited and health facilities are overwhelmed.

Our teams around the world, and here in the U.S., are putting people at the center of our interventions to beat COVID-19. We are co-creating with partners, visualizing quality data to inform strategy and using innovation—from the simplest to the most cutting edge—to close gaps in coverage, quality and equity.

With a simple phone call

In Zimbabwe, a timely switch to mobile mentorship is helping the Zimbabwe Assistance Program in Malaria (ZAPIM) ensure continuation of malaria and other essential health services for pregnant women and others. With the national lockdown restricting movement of people and supplies, the Jhpiego team rapidly developed a simple process to engage with facility managers and teams by phone, using a conversation guide based on global protocols. This virtual mentorship allows ZAPIM staff to identify facilities with commodity stock-outs, lack of personal protection equipment and other challenges—and then help solve them without physically being on the ground. The calls focus on getting services up and running, modifying service protocols in the context of COVID-19 (like establishing screening for patients at the gate) and providing antenatal care in a separate area of the clinic. Follow-up calls are helping to keep teams accountable.

Information and access through an app

In India, a citizen’s mobile application “Maha Swasthya” is providing real-time information on COVID-19 to people in Maharashtra, the state most affected by the novel coronavirus. The multilingual, android-based application available through the Google play store, has already had more than 360 downloads within two weeks of a soft launch. The app provides the latest updates on the COVID-19 situation in the state, identifies designated hotspots and informs its users of the nearest testing facilities using GIS mapping. App users receive real-time information on COVID facilities, including the number of available beds, ventilators and contact details of the liaison officer at every health facility. It can also help users to screen themselves for COVID symptoms. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development-supported program, NISHTHA, this mobile innovation is helping people make timely decisions to access COVID-related health services.

Driving decisions with data

In Nigeria, emergency operation centers across eight states have been upgraded as central command centers, equipped to utilize data integration, warehousing and visualization to provide state officials with transparent and real-time information to make informed decisions in managing COVID-19. The data can help identify hotspots, provide contact tracing teams with valuable information to better manage cases and ensure follow-up and documentation of calls. Support from the Jhpiego-led Reaching Impact, Saturation, and Epidemic Control (RISE) project is helping drive evidence-based, data-rich decisions on everything from availability of personal protection equipment to designated isolation and treatment centers.