COVID-19 Response Service

A step by step guide

What is the COVID-19 response service?

Objectives: To combat the pandemic, we are leveraging appropriate technologies and building processes to support hard-to-reach rural and low-income communities.

Basics structure: This service works on an IVR-based call back system.

• People give a missed-call to state-wise COVID phone numbers or Mobile Vaani district-wise phone numbers, and get a call back.
• On this, they can access FAQs and other relevant information on COVID-19.
• They can also take a self-assessment survey.
• At-risk cases reported on this survey, and any additional cases referred by FLWs, will be referred and tracked by our partner response team. This will amplify the capacity of community health workers for disease tracking and control.
• Our partner response team is comprised of skilled field level staff who have many years of experience in working alongside the health system.
• Referred cases will be tracked and information provided on a regular basis to the state-wise COVID-19 tracking system.

COVID-19 state-wise IVR phone numbers

• Bihar: 92111 53222
• Jharkhand: 92666 09111
• Uttar Pradesh: 92666 72555
• Tamil Nadu: 92666 18777

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• The respective state IVRs will also be linked off the multiple Mobile Vaani district-wise IVRs. See subsequent slides for a list of Mobile Vaani districts, and tips on how to publicize the IVRs in non-Mobile Vaani districts

To join our partner network:

• Contact covid-response@gramvaani.org with details about which districts you are operating in. See slides further down for a list of districts where we have teams.
• Send us details of your FLWs and response team, in the given template: [here]
• We will get back to you with providing access to your response teams for district-level case tracking
• Continue to read for the process you will then need to follow.

Design of the COVID-19 IVR

Select option

FAQs

FAQ-1: Community life

FAQ-2: Home care

Self assessment survey

Q1

Q2

Recommendation

FAQ for FLWs

Report at-risk case

A guide to the IVR

• For any user this IVR will offer two choices;

Option 1) information on Covid-19, organized into different categories. Thematic subsections will be available for browsing.

Option 2) Take a self assessment test. Answers to multiple-choice questions will be used to provide an actionable recommendation to the users.

• Option 3) Registered FLWs will get an additional option to report at-risk cases and also to listen to advisory for health workers.

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• At-risk respondents identified via the self-assessment survey or reported by the FLWs, will be tracked by the partner response teams who will make calls to the families to collect more information, and remain engaged with them over time to provide continuous guidance.

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Management of incoming cases

• There will be two sources of incoming at-risk cases that are reported;
• Result of the self-assessment survey
• Reported by FLWs
• The Gram Vaani team will do a first level moderation of these reports to transcribe the voice-recordings and allocate them to district-specific response teams.
• The information will be provided through a shared Excel sheet to start with. Very soon we would like to integrate with a case-tracking system like DHIS2. We are already in conversation with them.
• The partner response teams will call the at-risk families and find out more details, which will be filled in an ODK form
• The data will also be channeled to generate a dashboard for the state health departments.

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• Gram Vaani may need moderation assistance if the load increases, and also for non-Hindi and non-Tamil COVID-19 IVRs. For the moderation guide click here.

Shared excel format

• The moderation team will add these details case by case.
• The partner response teams will process these cases and mark the status. The status options are:
• Contacted and entered the case in ODK
• Contacted and determined that the case can be dropped
• Unable to contact
• Pending
• Partner-wise Excels have been set up

Interaction with at-risk reported cases

The partner response team will contact the at-risk reported cases and counsel them on essential steps. These could include:

• Referring them to the nearest PHC
• Connecting them with an FLW
• Offering further continued guidance to the family over time to track whether the suggested recommendations were acted upon
• Any other complications that arise
• This will also facilitate reporting of any gaps in the health system delivery so that problems can be plugged quickly
• Finally, the cases and updates on the cases will be fed into an ODK app
• The helpline protocol laid down by Swasti [here] gives important pointers for the respondents to keep in mind when speaking to the families

ODK form

ODK form

ODK form

Explanation of the ODK form

• ODK is a app based reporting form well suited for remote data collection.
• A number of mandatory fields will need to be filled for each case.
• After entering all the details, save and submit buttons will be available.
• ODK works in poor connectivity scenarios as well - forms can be filled offline, and will get uploaded whenever connectivity becomes available
• Data thus submitted will be aggregated into daily dashboards for the health authorities
• The partner response teams will also be able to track the cases over time and provide continuous support and guidance to the at-risk families
• The Gram Vaani SPOCs will be in touch with you to share ODK instructions and passwords

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Reporting dashboard (illustrative only)

Reporting dashboard

• This will get auto-updated on a real time basis, using three data-sources
• IVR logs to track calls and callers, time spent on the system, etc
• Self-assessment survey results
• ODK based case tracking data
• Map-based visualizations will also be available
• Reports will be generated on a daily basis and sent to the health authorities

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Places where we need support

• We need support to build a FAQ for FLWs on how they should conduct their day-to-day operations while staying safe, based on government guidelines [here]. Several resources for FLW advisory are [here]
• We have built a FAQ for advisory to the community members [here] based on GoI/WHO advisory but there are several open questions that need further contextualization for rural and low-income communities [here].

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References

Link to letter to state governments [here]

Link to emails of government officials [here]

Structure of self-assessment survey and rules [here]

ODK fields being collected [here]

Audio content we have developed [here]

Community feedback [here]

District specific advisory and announcements [here]

Mobile Vaani districts [see here for local info]

Mobile Vaani districts [see here for local info]

Mobile Vaani districts [see here for local info]

Partner response network [see here for local info]

How to publicize the COVID-19 IVR in a non-Mobile Vaani district: Message forwarding

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Messages on the COVID-19 IVR can be forwarded to other users using the press-5 and press-6 functions. These allow you to punch in a phone number and record a personalized message, which is pushed to the recipient. An SMS is also sent to your phone, which you can forward further to other people.

How to publicize the COVID-19 IVR in a non-Mobile Vaani district: Via the MV app

You can also download the Mobile Vaani app from Playstore. All the COVID-19 content is also available on the app. The app allows you to forward the content to users who may not have the app. Download [here]

How to publicize the COVID-19 IVR in a non-Mobile Vaani district: Via social media

The Mobile Vaani app also allows you to share content on Facebook and Whatsapp. This is a convenient way to share messages with families where at least one person may have a smartphone and is likely to be on Facebook or Whatsapp.

How to publicize the COVID-19 IVR in a non-Mobile Vaani district: Traditional method

Pamphlets and posters can be used to publicize the phone number, especially via FLWs who would be visiting different households. Community level meetings are also helpful to demonstrate the service, however at this time such in-person meetings are not advisable.

How to publicize the COVID-19 IVR in a non-Mobile Vaani district: Traditional method

Bags and mobile phone stickers can also be used, although again they may not be the best methods in the current circumstances.