Strengthening the network of professionals engaged in the fight against COVID-19
ProEpi is the Brazilian Association of Field Epidemiology. It is a civil, non-profit organisation founded in 2014 and headquartered in Brasilia, Brazil.
The association has a robust network of professionals focused on health surveillance, with more than 200 senior associate members across the region, and is fully engaged in the COVID-19 response.
The Situation Room is a University of Brasilia (UNB) laboratory department located in Brasilia, Brazil, which aims to bring together students, teachers, collaborators and health professionals to support monitoring, analysis and guidance for decision-makers in local public health units. It has groups involved in surveillance evaluation, data analysis and support for technology incorporation in several areas of public health and has more than 100 health professionals and students.
Challenge
Following the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world, both ProEpi and the UNB situation room were on the hunt for a collaborative solution that could help them effectively respond to the pandemic.
The teams at UNB used to use a combination of messaging and communications apps to get in touch and exchange information on a daily basis. However, as these teams grew, keeping track of a variety of conversations and especially documents became increasingly challenging with those apps (which were not necessarily designed for such use).
The main objective overall was to streamline the flow of information related to the pandemic between the university staff and health professionals spread across geographically distributed areas.
The platform also aimed to facilitate management tasks and day-to-day operations, foster collaboration and facilitate the exchange of experiences.
Additionally, the envisioned platform needed to act as a centralised knowledge base through which teams from both ProEpi and the UNB Situation Room could easily store, access and share critical knowledge for work and training purposes.
Why eXo?
An open source collaborative hub
eXo Platform was primarily chosen for its diverse set of features and functionalities, including the possibility for customisation, corporate artifacts, the channels for private or open interaction and the easy connection between employees, customers and partners in real time.
Additionally, the decision to partner with eXo Platform to lead the response against COVID-19 was made easy thanks to the eXo Grants Program. Through this programme, eXo is committed to providing free licenses for nonprofits and NGOs who are willing to use eXo Platform for good causes.
The impact
Connected teams and timely access to critical information
The partnership initially started back in 2018 between eXo and the UNB Situation Room. The platform at the time had up to 150 active users. Considering the collaboration with ProEpi, that number is expected to reach around 1000 active users by the end of 2021.
As of today, eXo Platform is fully implemented in the routine of the UNB Situation Room. Through the collaboration with ProEpi and its field epidemiology network, the platform will be able to integrate not just students and professionals but also local field epidemiologists who are leading the syndemic response in different cities. By having a common platform, the project team expects that the collaboration between different parties could make the difference in terms of facilitating the coordination and lean development of methodologies to improve surveillance and, as a consequence, community health.
Both parties have expressed their interest in further developing the platform and integrating new features, such as gamification, in order to improve community engagement.
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