Link to site https://covid19-map.cdcmoh.gov.kh/

Covid-19 is a new infectious disease that is becoming an increasing concern in Cambodia and the rest of the world due to its ability to spread from person to person at high speeds that are difficult to control. As the outbreak of Covid-19 is spreading around the world as well as in Cambodia, there has been misleading and false information regarding this outbreak that has become difficult for people to make informed decisions.  The misinformation has caused people to panic buy in bulk and store masks and hand sanitizers and as a consequence raised the prices of these products. 

In response to the misinformation, InSTEDD iLab SEA collaborated with the Ministry of Health to compile a Covid-19 outbreak map (https://covid19-map.cdcmoh.gov.kh ), a reliable data site for all people to visit and obtain reliable information on the situation in Cambodia. 

The outbreak map is a visualization aid that maps the coronavirus outbreak cases across Cambodia providing real-time updates on the number of cases of COVID-19 in different locations. The application also allows the viewer to access educational video from reliable sources and connect themselves to other resources like 115 hotline and CDC FB page.

The purpose of the map is to provide a better  and clearer means of communication to Cambodian citizens through a dependable source. The site itself comes with handy mapping functions that allow the citizen to have a central point to go to for the updates of infection numbers across the country. 

The outbreak map is initiated and carried out by the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) of the Ministry of Health of Cambodia with the technical assistance from InSTEDD. All the outbreak data is extracted from Communicable Disease Control (CDC) of the Ministry of Health. This is to ensure the quality and trustworthiness of the Information.

The outbreak map is one of InSTEDD’s contributions to Cambodia’s health sector. In January 2016, InSTEDD also launched the hotline ‘115’, a free-to-the-public national hotline that enables the general public and healthcare workers in Cambodia to access information and submit disease reports by dialing 1-1-5 on any phone.  Later in 2017, this hotline proved to be extremely effective as it gave health workers access to early detection of several outbreak cases such as the deadly strain of flu in Svay Rieng Province. The Svay Rieng outbreak detection and response story was not known to the iLab SEA team until it was uncovered during data analysis of the 35,000 total calls that came into the hotline three months later.

The CDC Cambodia and InSTEDD team have since agreed to prioritize the ability to quickly aggregate and visualize hotline call data in an actionable format. It is also important to note this data work is made possible by a rigorous process by the 115 partners that ensure the security and privacy of the hotline callers.

In the current response to the COVID-19 outbreak, 115 has played a crucial role as the first things people access to report suspicious cases of the disease, accessing COVID-19 update information, and educational message on prevention methods. Ever since the first case of Covid-19, which was then known as coronavirus, was reported in Cambodia, the number of calls has shot up dramatically. By March 25, 2020, the number of calls was reported to be 16,000 in just one day. 

Thanks to Ending Pandemics for the continued support on the containment of epidemic here in Cambodia.