UNICEF Innovation

MTRAC

Need

Millions of people die every day from diseases that could have been prevented. Diseases like HIV, Ebola, and Malaria are killing millions of people in developing countries every year. Often, despite the work to develop and distribute vaccines and medicines, the lack of transparency, accountability, and monitoring means unnecessary stock-outs and a lack of immunization coverag

Succeed Available on RapidPro, mTrac is an innovation using mobile phones and SMS to digitize the transfer of Health Management Information System (HMIS). Launched by the Ministry of Health, Uganda, the initial focus of mTrac was to speed up the transfer of HMIS weekly reports, which cover disease outbreaks and medicines, provide a mechanism for community members to report on service delivery challenges, and to empower district Health Teams by providing timely information for action. The aim is to avoid unnecessary stock-outs and to ensure transparency and accountability. Real-time monitoring of vaccine supplies enabled stock-outs to be addressed and led to an increase in immunization coverage of DPT1 from 52% to 98% within one year. The initiative also integrates governance and accountability through citizen feedback, an anonymous hotline and public dialogue sessions, which has allowed District Health Management Teams to address issues raised by community members, such as those related to quality of care and health worker absenteeism. During an Ebola outbreak in 2012, mTrac was also used in Uganda through a series of SMS messages alerting health workers to the outbreak, the case definition (symptoms), isolation procedures, the location of the nearest isolation facilities and the hotline to the national response team for reporting suspected cases.