PAHO releases Go.Data to combat coronavirus outbreak

The Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation has deployed a new investigation tool, Go.Data, which can visualise chains of transmission and other important factors during outbreaks and virus epidemics.
It was brought forward now that the coronavirus or COVID-19 epidemic has taken its effect and is managed by a “group of public health partners” and the Global Outbreak and Response Network coordinated by WHO.
Deputy Director of the Department of Health Emergencies at PAHO/WHO and Incident Manager for COVID-19, Sylvain Aldighieri has indicated that this technological advancement can provide significant assistance to the region.
“Go.Data is a powerful tool that will enable countries of the Region to investigate cases and outbreaks, and to manage contacts relating to the COVID-19 public health emergency of international concern,” Aldighieri indicated.
Zeroing in on this investigative tool, the organisation said that it can be used as a responding agent in any outbreak.
This includes “functionality for case investigation, contact follow-up, visualisation of chains of transmission including secure data exchange and is designed for flexibility in the field, to adapt to the wide range of outbreak scenarios. The tool is targeted at any outbreak responder”.
Go.Data is the initiative of a group of public health partners and is managed by the Global Outbreak and Response Network coordinated by WHO.
It can be used by medical professionals and public health professionals, and allows for the collection of case data, ranging from laboratory results, hospitalisations and other variables, and enables the control and monitoring of contacts.
According to the PAHO/WHO, this tool was introduced since 2019 in response to the Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, as well as for the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh. WHO is now working with its member states to make Go.Data available for the response to COVID-19.
“This innovative tool has allowed health professionals in the field in Africa to collect real-time digital data of people affected by Ebola, as well as information on their contacts in order to track health status and prevent expansion of the outbreak. Go.Data is the best tool for supporting the response to COVID-19 at this stage of the epidemic,” said Raquel Medialdea, from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
This application can be used both online and offline with a laptop, tablet or mobile phone and can be easily adapted to any disease, outbreak and country context.
Globally, there have been over 92,000 reported cases of the coronavirus with approximately 3168 deaths.