Adoption of digital tools in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Region of the Americas - the Go.Data experience

Cristina Valencia; Giovanna Jaramillo-Gutierrez; Analía Rearte; Paula Rosin; Fernando Gassino; Silvia Edith Morreale; Lorena Gobern; Antonio Paredes; Marc Rondy; Evelyn Balsells; Pablo Galindo; Liz Parra; Oliver Mazariegos; Amy Young; Darlene Bhavnani; Aaron Miri; Daniel Iken; Emily James; Angel Rodriguez

doi:10.1016/j.lana.2022.100377

Adoption of digital tools in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Region of the Americas - the Go.Data experience

Lancet Reg Health Am. 2022 Dec:16:100377. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2022.100377. Epub 2022 Oct 6.

Authors

Cristina Valencia^{1

2}, Giovanna Jaramillo-Gutierrez^{1

3}, Analía Rearte^{4

5}, Paula Rosin⁴, Fernando Gassino^{6

7}, Silvia Edith Morreale⁸, Lorena Gobern⁸, Antonio Paredes⁸, Marc Rondy⁹, Evelyn Balsells^{9

10}, Pablo Galindo¹¹, Liz Parra¹¹, Oliver Mazariegos¹¹, Amy Young¹², Darlene Bhavnani¹², Aaron Miri¹², Daniel Iken¹², Emily James¹², Angel Rodriguez¹³

Affiliations

¹ Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), Geneva, Switzerland.
² Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, USA.
³ European Programme of Interventional Epidemiology Training Alumni Network, EAN, Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁵ National University of Mar del Plata, Medicine School, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁶ Department of Information Systems, Ministry of Health, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷ Department of Health Emergencies, Pan American Health Organization, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
⁹ Immunization Unit, Pan American Health Organization, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
¹⁰ Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
¹¹ Department of Health Emergencies, Pan American Health Organization, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
¹² The Dell Medical School at University of Texas at Austin, UT Health Austin, Austin, USA.
¹³ Department of Health Emergencies, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, United States of America.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of digital health tools. Although a number of different tools exist to support field data collection in the context of outbreak response, they have not been sufficient. This prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to collaborate with the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and GOARN partners to develop a comprehensive system, Go.Data. Go.Data, a digital tool for outbreak response has simplified how countries operationalize and monitor case and contact data. Since the start of the pandemic, WHO and GOARN partners have provided support to Go.Data projects in 65 countries and territories, yet the demand by countries to have documented success cases of Go.Data implementations continues to grow. This viewpoint documents the successful Go.Data implementation frameworks in two countries, Argentina and Guatemala and an academic institution, the University of Texas at Austin.

Keywords: COVID-19; Contact tracing; Digital health; Digital tools; Go.Data; Interoperability; Outbreak response; Region of the Americas; SARS-CoV-2; Surveillaince.

Publication types

Review