The USAID DISCOVER-Health project is a five year USAID funded project that supports the Ministry Of Health in the provision of quality
Health services across all the ten provinces of Zambia, predominantly through an outreach model of service delivery, in order to reach
underserved areas and increase equity in access. The project outreach services runs from hub sites (static sites), which serves as operational
bases for outreach services in a hub and spoke manner. In addition general clinic to attend to patients with other health care needs is also
provided. USAID DISCOVER-Health also supports the Zambia Ministry of Health to increase the availability and utilization of sociallymarketed
priority health products, across the country. To provide these services USAID DISCOVER-Health creates demand for these health
services in all the 282 sites with the help of a workforce of about 1,240 field agents in the field. This has resulted in about 247,527 clients
receiving HIV Testing Services in the period October 1st 2016 to August 13st 2017 putting the average HIV Testing services at 27,000 per
month.
For prudent resource allocation and monitoring agent performance, USAID DISCOVER Health Project developed an ICT program. PIPAT
(Program Implementation Process Assessment Tool), helps defining continuous performance of the project as it strives to meet life of project
targets in all program areas. As an online electronic real-time ICT program used for data assessment and analysis of health service activities
(e.g. mobilization for health service provision, counselling and testing for HIV, antiretroviral treatment for those tested positive and male
voluntary male medical circumcision), service providers and community health workers send their daily activity reports to PIPAT using text
messages in coded format. PIPAT decodes these messages and inputs the entries in the database. Using entries in the database PIPAT analyses
the data and produces customized reports in all service areas. The project managers then use these on time reports to make informed and timely
decisions when planning for service provision and allocating resources where demand for health services has been created.
The project is seeking additional funding to take PIPAT to a new level – the ability to produce dynamic reports for users and management alike
at the push of a button. PIPAT could thus be used as part of everyone’s day-to-day work; for example, generating data visualization chats
showing performance information. We intended to enhance the quality and availability of these reports in PIPAT to users by using the Android
Phones each of our field agents have been given by using Android Application in combination with Microsoft Power BI App for enhanced data
visualization.