World Cup fever hits Brazil whilst a new smartphone app helps the country in the fight against dengue

Like most football fans around the globe, my normal routine has taken a back seat since the opening ceremony of the world cup last Thursday, and even more so once the real business of the matches got under way. So far, the spectacle in Brazil has not disappointed (apart from England’s result against Italy, which will hopefully be a mere blip in our progress beyond the group stage – I live in hope!) and even that defeat provided more positives than any losing game I can remember in recent history.

There has been the unavoidable concerns of social unrest, born from the perception that the cost of the tournament is unreasonable and even obscene in the face of the many fundamental social problems people face in the country. With the suggestion that the cost of the stadia alone could cover the entire country’s welfare bill several times over – if proper provision was being provided – it is hard not to feel a great deal of sympathy with the protesters and the communities they represent.

In spite of these issues that rightly continue to dominate the press as much as the football itself, as a fan it is hard not to be seduced by the event. The games have largely been very entertaining, with lots of goals, several shock results and just enough controversial decisions to make it a suitably exciting and fitting spectacle, that so far reflects the passion and love for football that pervades in the home of ‘the beautiful game’.

So with the action on the pitch proceeding as all the best tournaments should, and having not revisited my blog since the spring (I’ve been a bit busy), I thought it was high time for another post, and one that touched on the problems that communities face in difficult environments, had a Brazilian flavour, and focussed on my trusted theme of technology – specifically mobile – and how it is being used to provide solutions to some of the challenges faced by ‘everyday’ people and the communities in which they live.

Help in Brazil in the fight against Dengue Fever thanks to a new smartphone app

Search on Google for ‘Brazil’ and ‘Smartphone’, and you get a deluge of results on how much mobile devices will be utilised to watch world cup games, keep users up to date with stats and scores, place an online bet, order-in world cup-themed take away pizza – you name it, there’s an app for it, and they all claim to improve our mobile world cup experience in some shape or form. So I was nicely surprised to happen upon a recent Brazil-based smartphone story which wasn’t football-related in anyway, but was still very much community- based and concerned with providing a solution to a problem that potentially effects many people in the country, particularly in the tropical zones and in the over-crowded and under-resourced urban favelas that are home to thousands of people.

Reported in the NDTV Gadgets website (courtesy of Agence France-Presse), a new smartphone application has been developed to try to tackle the serious problem of dengue fever in the country, in locations where there’s an increased likelihood that outbreaks may occur. According to the article, the app, (developed for use initially in the tropical north-eastern city of Natal by university researcher Ricardo Valentim in collaboration with epidemiologist lon De Andrade, who works for Natal City Council) can be used to indicate not only the location of an outbreak, but also high concentrations of mosquitoes that would suggest a high risk area. The authorities are then able to react to prevent the further spread of the disease, and treat water sources that may be the cause.

“…If someone identifies dengue, they pinpoint it on the (application’s) map and that allows us to see where it is developing and to react immediately to stop it spreading,” Andrade said…

…If it’s mosquitos, we can locate and treat the water source. If a suspected case is confirmed, we can treat the victim,” Andrade said…

Brazil has been hit harder than any other country this century, with seven million cases reported since 2000, including 800 fatalities in the last five years.

In the Sao Paulo state city of Campinas, where Portugal’s team and star Cristiano Ronaldo are based, three women aged 27, 69 and 81 died of dengue this year…”

As the article suggests, there have been many cases of dengue in the country, a mosquito-borne disease for which there is currently no cure, both in the tropical north and also in other areas, and sadly resulting in several fatalities. Therefore being able to utilise the mass-reach of smartphone technology in the fight against the disease will come as a huge bonus if it can deliver viable protection to those communities most affected.

The full article from the gadgets.ndtv.com website can viewed here:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/brazilians-hope-to-help-fight-dengue-with-new-smartphone-app-542263

Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI): Improving lives in marginalised communities through greater knowledge of ICT

Founded in 1995 by Rodrigo Baggio, the Center for Digital Inclusion or CDI has helped thousands of people improve their lives and shape their communities through greater access to computers and increased knowledge of IT, and the improvements in education, communication and social development that these resources can bring.

Describing themselves as pioneers of the ‘digital inclusion movement’, CDI are now a major global NGO, with a network of ‘Digital Inclusion Site’s’ throughout Latin America, and with several other sites in Europe and elsewhere. These sites take the form of schools of IT and related skills, and are situated both in low-income areas and within indigenous communities, as well as in clinics, hospitals and youth and adult detention facilities.

From its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, CDI maintains its global operations with the support of other major benevolent organisations and plans to expand its reach towards the Middle East, North Africa and India in the future.

 The concept of Digital Inclusion

As information technology and communication (ICT) becomes increasingly an integral part of modern day life, the familiarity that people have with computers and their understanding of the internet and communicating online will inevitably have a greater bearing on the opportunities that are made available to them. For the majority of the worlds marginalised communities, particularly in the developing world, readily available access to the essentials of survival and life itself – a safe water supply, enough to eat, shelter from persecution, are the first priority. However, as these countries develop and find greater stability, and increasingly technology plays a greater part in their economic growth, an understanding and appreciation of ICT will become increasingly important; in other words, their level of digital inclusion. Inevitably people’s knowledge of ICT will have a bearing on social mobility and inclusion for all but the most isolated communities, providing greater employment opportunities, and enhancing the ability for individuals and the communities in which they live to communicate with the world beyond their boundaries and make themselves heard.

 CDI: their projects 

Largely based in Latin America, the schools and centres that CDI have set are up are based in the most vulnerable regions and communities, from the slums of Brazil’s cities to disparate indigenous communities in Columbia. Their ethos is to provide people not only with the equipment, but the know-how and appreciation to exploit the skills they develop and improve their lives in the modern world. They explain this with great clarity in their website:

‘…But technology, in itself, is just a tool. The true challenge is making technology relevant and useful in the context of marginalized populations. For 18 years CDI has empowered disadvantaged groups to use Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) as tools to exercise their full capacities as citizens and tackle the issues that affect their communities…’

One of the organisation’s flagship projects that has been running for over ten years is based in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Classrooms and computer labs have been set up, providing the local communities with invaluable training and experience not readily available to them from other sources, in an environment that is better known for the severe poverty and drug violence that was endemic in favela communities in the past. The centres aim to provide assistance and education of a sustainable nature, opening up greater opportunities for employment and self-sufficiency to the communities involved.

Sarah Lacy’s article from 2010 in the Tech Crunch website provides a vivid and interesting account of the project: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/12/coming-up-from-the-favelas-brazils-slumdog-entrepreneurs/

For more information on the work of CDI, visit their website at: http://cdiglobal.org/