Inovasi Kategori Inovasi Penciptaan Tahun 2024

Tajuk Projek: Less Efficient Process Of Animal Bite Cases Management In Sarawak

HURAIAN PROJEK:

Rabies is a zoonotic disease with almost 100% fatality rate. Sarawak was historically rabies-free until 1st July 2017 when the outbreak was declared. The state has been burdened with the increasing cases of human rabies and animal rabies. Multi-agencies were involved to curb rabies and control the spreading of the deadly disease. The public and staff awareness grew alongside education and awareness campaigns carried out by the authority, especially towards the severity and implications of rabies disease. Following which, there were more notifications on animal bite cases throughout Sarawak. The spike in the number of animal bite notifications followed suit after the human rabies outbreak was declared. An average of three to four hundred animal bite notifications were being notified by health facilities in Sarawak weekly, resulting in more than 100,000 notifications having been recorded since 2017 till date. All health facilities sent manual animal bite notifications to respective district health offices for further investigation and action during the initial stage. The reporting, investigation, treatment and monitoring of the cases are crucial steps in animal bite management that should be conducted by health personnel, stakeholders and policymakers promptly. Common problems faced during that time include late or missed notifications, patients switching clinics for treatment purposes, health personnel were unable to identify patients who missed their appointments or defaulted follow-up, duplication of notification, and completeness and timeliness of the data input in the database. Therefore, the Sarawak Health Department took the initiative to develop a user-friendly platform to overcome the situation, namely i-Bite. The online web-based notification system was first piloted in the Serian Division in December 2020, where point zero of human rabies cases occurred before being introduced and implemented in all health facilities in Sarawak, including private facilities in April 2021. The system was then updated in 2023 to capture a more comprehensive database and facilitate all involved parties. The main objective of the project is to simplify and speed up the process of registration and notification of new cases of animal bites in Sarawak in order to expedite assessment, intervention and monitoring processes. The system allows more comprehensive patient follow-up plans to be recorded and monitored at any health facility. Users of the system can easily access and monitor patients’ records, especially patient’s anti-rabies vaccination history. The health personnel from the District Health Office or Health Clinic can identify immediately a patient (defaulter) who doesn’t turn up for their scheduled anti-rabies vaccination/treatment as the system will send a notification/reminder to the users should there be no treatment plan being recorded. It reduces the chance of defaulter in animal bite cases and the patient’s treatment plan