BENGALURU: The disease surveillance dashboard for dengue and the PRISM-H (Platform for Integrated Surveillance and Management of Health) app have helped in identifying 10,000 mosquito-breeding spots and surveying two lakh households in the city within a month of launch.
Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar, Programme Director, AI and Technology Park (ARTPARK), Indian Institute of Science (IISC), said that the app was launched in 225 wards of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in September after a successful pilot initiative performed to test the functionality of PRISM-H. Keeping in mind the easy app interface, accredited social health activists (ASHA) in Bengaluru have adopted it much faster.
The activists and other field workers identified 10,000 mosquito-breeding spots and surveyed two lakh households within a month of the app launch. With the integration of technology, health department officials are able to identify the geo-location of all mosquito-breeding spots and houses with positive dengue cases with photographic evidence. Activities such as clearance of breeding spots or fumigation are better monitored with collated data readily available to the officials.
Dr AS Balasundar, Chief Health Officer, BBMP, said they had issues with collating the data in the past. Despite surveys being done, they were not efficiently documented. With the help of this disease surveillance system, they have managed to properly document the number of dengue cases and the breeding spots. With regard to dengue, which saw a spike during August-September, with close to 4,000 cases reported, Bengaluru is now witnessing a downward trend. The city reported around 400 cases in the last week of September and close to 500 cases so far this month. The incidence is expected to reduce further within 20 days, he added.
The dashboard was launched in association with BBMP and the state health department to provide a map of outbreaks at the district and sub-district levels across Karnataka.