Water-Associated infectious Diseases in India: digital Management tools (WADIM)

This proposal focusses on India, which carries a heavy burden of multiple waterborne diseases, where medical infrastructure is poor, and where clinical data on diseases are difficult to access.

We aim to develop a multi-layered digital tool to map sanitation conditions and occurrence of diseases that can be rapidly updated, especially in the event of natural disasters, such as floods, or changes in environmental conditions, notably monsoon rainfall.

The required data will be collected through a smartphone application aimed at local citizens and primary health workers, for direct uploading of data without external intervention, thereby filling an acutely-felt gap in information. Crowd-sourced data products on sanitation and diseases will be publicly and freely available.

This will be complemented by routinely-updated satellite-based maps on risks from the presence of pathogenic environmental bacteria (notably Vibrio cholerae) in natural water bodies, and on environmental threats from heavy rainfall and floods. Public engagement activities will ensure uptake of products by the general public and decision makers.

The goal is to create a marked step down in the diseases burden through improved technology and citizen scientist participation. The design strategy allows for translation of the methods to other localities and other diseases.