Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how the Early Warning Information Management System (EWS) for vector-borne diseases (malaria and dengue) collects, uses, stores, and protects personal information when you use the web application, mobile application, USSD, or SMS services operated under the Rise to the Challenge initiative in Tanzania.
EWS is developed in support of national and community disease surveillance, early warning, and public health response, in alignment with the System Requirements Specification (SRS) for the project and applicable national health and data protection regulations.
1. Who we are
The EWS is operated as part of the Rise to the Challenge programme. System development and maintenance are carried out at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in coordination with health sector stakeholders including the Ministry of Health (MoH), PO-RALG, and sub-national health teams.
For privacy enquiries, contact the EWS project team through the channels listed in Account deletion & data requests.
2. Information we collect
Depending on how you use EWS, we may collect:
- Account information: name, email address, phone number, preferred language, role, region, district, and institution details where required for your user type.
- Location information: GPS coordinates, map selections, and approximate location used for weather forecasts, area checks, alerts, and surveillance context. Location sharing is used only when you grant permission or actively choose a place on the map.
- Health and survey contributions: symptom reports, malaria and dengue survey responses, travel history, and related information you voluntarily submit through Changia taarifa (contribute data) and related features.
- Map and AI analysis inputs: satellite map views and images captured when you request an environmental or breeding-site area check.
- Chat and learning interactions: questions and messages sent to the EWS assistant for educational purposes.
- Usage and technical data: device/browser type, session activity, audit events, security logs, and system performance data needed to operate and secure the platform.
- Communications: OTP codes, alerts, reminders, and messages sent by SMS, email, or in-app notification according to your preferences.
3. How we use your information
We use personal information to:
- Provide registration, authentication, and role-based access to EWS features.
- Deliver location-based weather forecasts, risk alerts, and preventive advice.
- Support community and facility-level surveillance, reporting, and task coordination.
- Generate aggregated dashboards, trends, and analytics for authorized health officials.
- Operate AI-assisted features such as map area analysis, chat-based health information, and forecasting models.
- Maintain audit logs, security monitoring, and system reliability as required by the SRS.
- Comply with legal obligations and approved data-sharing agreements with partner institutions.
4. Legal basis and consent
Where required, we rely on your explicit consent—for example when you accept the Terms and Privacy Policy during registration, consent to data sharing for surveillance, or enable location services on your device.
Public health surveillance processing may also be carried out where permitted under applicable Tanzanian law and approved institutional data-sharing arrangements with MoH and partner agencies.
5. Data sharing
We do not sell your personal information. We may share data only:
- With authorized MoH, PO-RALG, regional, district, and community health users according to role and access level.
- With service providers that host, secure, or deliver the system (for example cloud infrastructure, SMS, email, or mapping services) under contractual safeguards.
- With research and programme partners where data is aggregated, de-identified, or shared under approved agreements.
- When required by law, court order, or a legitimate public health authority request.
Integration with external systems (such as DHIS2, eIDSR, or meteorological data sources) follows agreed APIs and data standards described in the project SRS.
6. Data retention
We retain personal information only as long as needed for surveillance, account management, security auditing, and legal compliance. Aggregated or de-identified datasets used for trends and research may be kept longer where anonymization prevents re-identification.
When you delete your account, we remove or anonymize personal identifiers in line with our account deletion process, except where retention is required for public health records, audit logs, or legal obligations.
7. Security
EWS applies technical and organizational measures described in the SRS, including strong password requirements, session controls, encryption in transit, access control by role, and extensive audit logging. No system is completely secure; please use a strong unique password and protect your device.
8. Your rights and choices
You may:
- Access and update profile information through the app where available.
- Control location permissions on your device.
- Manage alert and notification preferences.
- Request account deletion as described on the delete account page.
- Contact us to request correction or clarification about how your data is used.
9. Children
EWS may be used by adults registering on behalf of children for health surveys. Where a parent, guardian, or authorized community health worker submits information about a child, they should do so only with appropriate authority and care.
10. International processing
Some infrastructure or third-party services (for example mapping, AI, or messaging providers) may process data on servers outside Tanzania. Where this occurs, we apply appropriate contractual and security safeguards.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by updating the version number and date on this page. Continued use of EWS after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy where permitted by law.