Advances in filarial hydrocelectomy reporting in Uganda and Nigeria

• Published in: Frontiers in Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Susan F. D’Souza, John P. Awio, Jehoshaphat Albarka, Windtaré Roland Bougma, Sarah Bartlett, Christian Nwosu, Babacar Ngom, Anthony Wani, Anita Gwom, Moses Okello, Abraham Aba, Sarah Irema, Martins Imhansoloeva, Dauda Nurudeen, Charles Wamboga, Mark T. Debam, Haruna Zainab, Attahiru Aleiro, Malam H. Salah, Philip Downs
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024
• Subjects: lymphatic filariasis; hydrocelectomy; hydrocele; surgery; reporting; digitisation; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fitd.2024.1379902; https://doaj.org/article/52fdf803e1e54b029a7f741b4e4448b0

IntroductionSurgery for hydrocele is part of the WHO recommended essential package of care for people affected by Lymphatic filariasis (LF). In Uganda and Nigeria, LF programme support for hydrocele surgery began in 2017. In 2021 the two programmes adopted a newly developed smartphone-based application to monitor hydrocele surgery and outcome. The application, referred to as the Hydrocele Tracker, gathers information on surgical registration, preoperative information, intraoperative information, postoperative information and follow-up evaluations. It was developed to improve supervision, understand surgical outcomes and reasons for complications, improve reporting and improve data quality for Ministries of Health with active LF programmes.MethodsHydrocele patient information was collected between October 2021 and May 2023 in Uganda (Lango sub-region, 9 districts) and March 2021 - September 2022 in Nigeria (Benue, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Kogi States). Additionally patient feedback surveys were undertaken to elicit patient experience and satisfaction with the hydrocele surgery.ResultsPatient data from 2,911 records in the Hydrocele Tracker are presented.DiscussionThe discussion highlights the implications of the data for LF programming, the value of digitisation and approaches to address data quality.