Disease Reporting Hotline Launches to Stop Outbreaks in Cambodia

Disease Reporting Hotline Launches
to Stop Outbreaks in Cambodia
By Tharum Bun

Cambodia is in a ‘hot zone region’, susceptible to deadly disease spread. Timely
reports from Health Centers across the country are critical to stopping outbreaks.

To improve disease reporting in
Cambodia, the iLab Southeast Asia, in
partnership with Cambodian CDC and
Skoll Global Threats Fund, launched a
free to the public disease hotline built
with InSTEDD’s interactive voice
response tool Verboice. By calling 115
anyone with a phone and mobile
network can report disease
information by voice and keypad entry.

The hotline was officially launched with all partners in January 2016 in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia.

Dr. Ly Sovann of Ministry of Health is in charge of the hotline. “Reporting through
hotline 115 will especially benefit the efforts of health workers, increasing their
reliability and productivity. On-time reporting means disease outbreak prevention”

As a principle of the iLab SEA human centered-design approach, the team
traveled to visit Kratie, a community nearly a 6-hour drive from Phnom Penh, to
meet with health workers to determine what that the 115 hotline could assist with.

On the site visit we met Ms. Vanny, a
midwife and counselor who has worked
at Orrusey health center in the Kratie
Province since 1991.

When we asked her about disease reporting, she shared with us time-intensive,
detailed paperwork. Time she would prefer to spend with her many patients.

Vanny knows that she needs to send disease information as quickly as possible,
but is limited by the many other responsibilities that she has.

The disease reporting must be done, no matter how overwhelming, time
consuming, or stressful it is to complete.

Vanny said that if she could replace her paperwork with a call to the hotline then it
could enable her to create more time for her many duties.

“Stopping disease spread saves people’s lives. It stops people from getting into a
‘poverty trap’, because as people get infected, they have to spend a lot of money
on treatment that they cannot afford.”

With the hotline operating and the need for health workers clear, Ms. Vanny and
others are receiving training on how to use 115 for disease reporting.

Ten ‘115 trainings’ have been delivered and more are scheduled. The team behind
115 are now working to bring its benefits to health centers across Cambodia.

115 hotline is made
possible by the
Cambodian CDC and
Skoll Global Threats Fund.
This photo essay was
produced with support
from the Rockefeller
Foundation.

To learn more about
The iLab SEA team approach to
innovation for improved health
in the region, please visit:
www.ilabsoutheastasia.org
/instedd /instedd /instedd

Disease Reporting Hotline Launches to Stop Outbreaks in Cambodia

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