Karnataka Health Minister Launches Dashboard & Mobile App to Track Dengue Cases in the State

Initially concentrating on dengue, both the disease surveillance dashboard and mobile app are set to broaden their scope to include other diseases in the future.

The Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has launched a disease surveillance dashboard and a mobile application, designed for the vigilant monitoring of the vector-borne disease, dengue, in response to the surge of dengue cases in Bengaluru and various parts within Karnataka.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka (DHFW-GoK) and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in collaboration with ARTPARK (AI & Robotics Technology Park) launched the PRISM-H (Platform For Research, Integrated Surveillance and Management of Health), a disease surveillance dashboard and mobile application at Indian Institute of Science (IISc). 

This initiative aims to harness predictive analytics that public health officials and policymakers can utilise to anticipate outbreaks and manage disease control activities. 

The Karnataka Health Department informed that the newly inaugurated app is designed to predict communicable diseases at least four weeks in advance. Additionally, the app monitors the physical well-being of healthcare workers, supervises the spread of communicable diseases and keeps track of test reports.

Complementing the mobile app is the disease surveillance dashboard, which furnishes a map of outbreaks across Karnataka at district and sub-district levels. Moreover, the mobile app will generate a four-week predictive risk map of outbreaks which will be made accessible to state and district officers.

The ministry further revealed that they will leverage the mobile app to capture real-time data from on-ground surveys. It also enables ASHA workers to facilitate survey-related activities, assists workers in streamlining source reduction activities, allows medical officers to verify and review activities, and aids healthcare workers in their training.

Further, the disease surveillance dashboard, tailored for policymakers, public health decision-makers, and district health officers among others serves as a crucial tool for monitoring diseases at district and state levels. It facilitates advisories and data-driven policymaking, day-to-day management, interventions and resource planning.

Initially concentrating on dengue, both the disease surveillance dashboard and mobile app are set to broaden their scope to include other diseases in the future.

Speaking at the inaugural event, Raghu Dharmaraju, CEO of ARTPARK said, 'œTimes of crisis like Covid, force us all '“ government, researchers, industry and startups '“ to work together to bring technology to solve societal challenges. The challenge is to sustain such collaborations when things seem alright and continue to build capabilities that will help with challenges when they come.'

'œARTPARK's role is that of an orchestrator of such collaborative innovation. A lot of credit to GoK and BBMP for not resting and thinking futuristically to build these systems to prepare for the challenges ahead. In a world where climate change is bringing new kinds of crises to new places every day, we must be prepared,' Dharmaraju added.