More local government units (LGUs) are now using the Department of Science and Technology-National Research Council of the Philippines’ (DOST-NRCP) “gender-sensitive” online dashboard for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.

Launched in 2020, the gender-responsive COVID-19 Cases Monitor (CCMon) is a dashboard with a graphical user interface that provides at-a-glance views of the number of COVID-19 cases or progress report across the national and local government units, regional, provincial, municipality, barangay.

NRCP Governing Board Member and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) professor Dr. Jomar F. Rabajante, who developed CCMon, said the dashboard was designed to extract gender-specific insights by disaggregating datasets per gender, and integrating gender-specific epidemiological information to available socio-economic data.

He said CCMon has already been used by many LGUs in both provinces and cities, as their data monitoring platform, especially when they have recorded an increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

“Yung sample LGUs na madalas na ginagamitan ng platform na ito, Bataan, Agusan del Sur, Aklan, lalo na po yung tumataaas ang cases nila, of course, they need help (The sample LGUs that use this platform frequently are Bataan, Agusan del Sur, Aklan, especially when their cases are increasing, of course, they need help),” Rabajante said in a virtual presser on Wednesday.

He also noted that the LGUs in Quezon province, and cities of Puerto Princesa , Zamboanga, and Naga and those other LGUs that logged increasing COVID-19 cases have used the dashboard. CCMon uses mainly data from the Department of Health (DOH).

“We help them and we use this monitor to provide data,” Rabajante said. CCMon maintains COVID-19 related indicators that are relevant to decision making and appropriate response of the LGU managers such as congressman, governor, mayor, barangay captain, and LGUs’ health service providers.

These include the site, sex, age, unique cases such as pregnant women, severity of infections (asymptomatic, mild, severe), number of deaths, number of recoveries, health status of frontliners, and bed capacity of hospitals.

The user-friendly tool not only gives visual presentation of the number of COVID-19 cases, but also provides visual presentation of the severity of infection and provides guidance in identifying and addressing the negative trends of the coronavirus cases.

Under the monitoring system, the LGU will have information on the status and severity of the COVID-19 cases of their neighboring cities, municipalities, provinces, regions, and across the country.

“As such, the data may help craft local policies of whom to allow and not allow access to their respective localities,” the DOST-NRCP said.

NRCP Executive Director Dr. Marieta Bañez Sumagaysay sought the media’ s assistance to promote CCMon among the LGUs.

“Please help us in rolling out CCMon so that we can help more LGUs be better informed and for them to use the CCMon in their decision making. Marami silang ginagamit na tools (They’ve been using tools) this one is not to replace those tools, this one will be an additional support tool in decision making,” she said.

“With the data, the CCMon can generate visuals na mas mabilis maintindihan (more understandable),” she added.

Those who want to use the dashboard may visit this link https://skms.nrcp.dost.gov.ph/ccmon. The users will be asked to supply personal information such as complete name, gender, profession, and contact numbers before accessing the dashboard.