HIV drug emergency system (Dagala lyo)

Abstract

Dagala lyo web system provides patients and doctors with medical information to guide them while planning for their dosages. Most patients/caregivers in Uganda don't have a centralized and reliable source of HIV information in regards to HIV drug emergency hence the need for the Dagala lyo. This report is a detailed compilation of all activities we engaged in while developing the web system (Dagala lyo). Existing e-health systems have many limitations that hinder open access, sharing, viewing and discussion of digital health resources. It is upon this background that we undertook this project with the objective of developing a web system to connect the various stakeholders and develop a culture of sharing and accessing open digital health resources to promote healthy living in Uganda. It involves chapter 1 which is about the background to the problem, problem statement, objectives and the scope, chapter 2 which is about the literature review, chapter 3 which is made up of the methodology, chapter 4 which consists of system study, analysis and design, chapter 5 which is about system implementation, testing and validation and chapter 6 which consists of the conclusion. During the system requirements elicitation phase, qualitative and quantitative data was collected through studying documentation, participatory prototyping, focus group discussions and online questionnaires. The system was implemented using a number of tools and technologies such as MySQL, HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Bootstrap, jQuery, D3.js and Ajax. Data analysis was done using Ms Excel, and the findings showed that whereas most of the respondents were willing to embrace the culture of digitally accessing medical resources, they were not aware of any local systems that could enable them share and collaborate. Some desirable features were suggested for inclusion on the HIV drug emergency system such as dynamic search, system reminders, sharing pictures among users within the browser, interactions via social media and comments integration, responsiveness to mobile devices, resource reviews, ratings, approvals, proper categorization of resources, and free access with low bandwidth, among others. xiv The logical design and physical design was done and the system was implemented with all the suggested features. An early system prototype was uploaded online for user testing and validation. It is highly recommended that HIV patients and Doctors embrace the system to make their contribution to Dagala Lyo, Uganda’s next top digital Health resource pool. Some of the problems faced were the high costs of data and unstable network connectivity. Due to the unstable network some online interviews were interrupted as they were being carried out which made the data collection process tiring. The main objective was achieved by successfully developing an HIV drug emergency system. The project enabled us to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during our course of study.