To assess the changing health scenario within the country and also act accordingly, public health program implementers and policymakers need timely and accurate information, but there is usually a dearth of relevant data. Traditionally data are collected by household face-to-face surveys which are costly and time consuming; as a result, face-to-face surveys are not conducted on a regular basis. On the other hand, an increase in ownership and access to mobile phones has opened new opportunities to gather information from respondents over their mobile phones within a short period of time at a lower cost. Furthermore, in conflict situations, natural disasters, or, epidemics, where movements become restricted, the applicability of mobile phone survey increases many fold.

Since 2012, IEDCR is collecting health-related data of public health importance through its Cell Phone Based Surveillance (CPBS) platform as an alternative or to supplement face-to-face data collection practices. During its journey, CPBS moved forward with different organizations, that includes names like, International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Johns Hopkins University (JHU), The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the mobile operators in Bangladesh. So far CPBS activities revolved around issues like communicable and non-communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health of women, foodborne diseases, follow-up of COVID cases and contact tracing, etc. Since 2015, IEDCR is working with the JHU on the ways to improve the mobile phone surveys to collect data on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) risk factors. The CPBS is currently involved with the following activities;

1. Rapid Mortality Mobile Phone Survey (RaMMPS) to collect data on COVID mortality with the objectives, to conduct a national level mortality survey to evaluate the cost effectiveness and feasibility of RaMMPS as a mortality surveillance methodology; and also to estimate excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic nationally in Bangladesh using the national level RaMMPS survey.

2. To obtain a nationally representative NCD risk factor data, a call-center based study was undertaken from November 9, 2023 by using random digit dialing through mobile phone (CATI- computer assisted telephone interview) survey following the WHO recommended STEP wise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance (STEPS) tools. In this study, data was generated from each of the eight administrative divisions in Bangladesh to assess the NCD risk factors status in the country. Additionally, the MPS (Mobile Phone Survey) derived data will be analyzed for data validity and reliability by comparing with the data derived through the nationwide face-to-face STEPS survey conducted in 2022 

3. Conducted two separate surveys, first a face-to-face survey, followed by a call-center based survey (CATI) on NCD risk factors in a small population (sample size 960) at a month’s interval using the same tool. The data is now being analyzed to evaluate the validity and reliability.

4. Developed and tested tools for MPS to assess primary health care status in different countries. It is a mixed method study comprising qualitative and MPS based survey funded by Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL).