Hà Nội, Oct 13-14
For years, HIV outreach and testing activities have been tracked through separate health information systems, making it difficult to track individual clients across these various systems. In response, LADDERS updated its existing HIV testing and counseling health information system, based on excel templates and a mobile application, to enable community outreach workers to manage their respective data digitally and systematically. The newly branded D.Health application, used by CBOs in HCMC and Dong Nai province since 2020, is now available and accessible on both iOS and Android enabled devices. Last week, CBOs in Hanoi were introduced to the multi-purposed application in a 2-day training workshop. More than 30 lay testers were instructed through the use of the D.Health application with its features and interfaces which differ for clients, outreach workers, and CBO administrators.
Participants took the opportunity to practice with virtual accounts and get inquiries answered under mentorship and supervision of the SI team from LADDERS. Recognizing the change, moving from a paper to digital base, may seem hard at first, but with time and their familiarization this tool will prove to help optimize data collection, management, and use. CBO members who participated in the training are expected to utilize D.Health for ongoing data entry, reporting and use for their informed decision-making as well as the technical assistance to be provided by LADDERS.
With the use of D.Health among all CBOs under the LADDERS project, the goal is to streamline data collection processes and empower various HIV stakeholders to understand and respond to the changing needs of the epidemic, while managing reporting burden and facilitating its use to inform program improvements.
Figure 1. Life staff took turns to present and guide community participants through the technical use of the D.Health app.
Figure 2, 3. Through interactive games and simulation practices, community outreach workers got a better idea of how to use the app for themselves and their clients.
