Kiguzo: Scholastic Absence Tracking System

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Investigator: Maxim L. Ritzenberg, MD

Location(s): Kenya; Rwanda

Description

Kiguzo aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality of primary schoolchildren in Africa while increasing school attendance rates through improved absence tracking and follow-up.  Our mission is to provide schools, communities and clinics with the technologic and educational tools to better understand and address the disease and social burdens in their community that are leading to school absences.  The technology takes this one step farther and facilitates prompt follow-up of sick or injured children.

Utilizing People and Technology to Connect Schools, Families, and Local Governments to Prevent School Absences Due to Health and Social Barriers.

 

  1. RESPOND: Teachers will report absences via tablet notebooks, CEW (Community Education Workers) will get notified via their Kiguzo phone* application and will respond by visiting the home of the absent child.
  2. REPORT: CEWs use Kiguzo application to report the information they gather at the home visit back to the Kiguzo central system.
  3. REACT: The system reacts to the absence information in TWO ways:
    - First: If the child is sick, the system automatically alerts the child’s Community Health Worker (CHW) to request a visit.
    - Second: Information that is gathered by the CEW and sent to the system will give the community information about what is causing school absences.