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Towards a 2-Way Communication and Analytics Platform for Emergency Response and Post-Emergency Recovery Efforts in Sierra Leone

At the peak of the West African Ebola outbreak in December 2014, the only prospect for containing the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was through behavior change to reduce transmission pathways. However, deeply ingrained beliefs, social systems, and cultural practices, combined with a lack of knowledge of the disease, made containment difficult. IBM Research - Africa, in collaboration with Sierra Leone Open Government Initiative (OGI), set up a call and SMS hotline to engage with citizens and understand issues on the ground using free text responses, which started on 19th Sept 2014 (during the first national lockdown). Localized versions of Centre for Disease Control (CDC) public health messages were broadcast on public radio along with a short question on Ebola, and listeners were encouraged to call or SMS the OGI hotline in reply to the question, or to report the current situation in their locality. Messages were categorized using a basic keyword search approach, based on categories that were determined manually, and the results of the analysis were communicated to the government via OGI. The initial deployment showed the potential of using a 2-way communication platform utilizing natural language responses to provide valuable feedback on behaviors and attitudes during a health emergency. Our presentation will describe the original platform, the outcomes of the analysis performed to date and the current work being undertaken to extend and scale the platform in Sierra Leone.