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

Smartphone Apps that can help in a crisis and provide support when disaster strikes

It’s been a while since my last post, not least since I had a proper look at mobile technology and the latest news from the world of mobile apps. The revolution in app development emerging from  African-based technology hubs that has been gathering pace in the last two years shows no signs of slowing down, particularly in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, with some reports suggesting that certain ventures are now turning a profit, proving that app dev’  in those countries may be getting the recognition it deserves.

What has also caught my attention recently is the upsurge in practical ‘support’ apps, particularly those that aim to provide help and assistance in a crisis situation or natural disaster. In keeping with the tone and subjects of my previous posts, I’ve decided to focus this one on this area of mobile application development, where smartphone devs’ are really pushing to provide genuinely valuable tools to users in vulnerable crisis situations, and putting useful applications in the hands of rescue teams and support workers, that can be applied in the field to enable them to respond more rapidly to those affected by disaster.

Smartphones that help in the search for avalanche victims

Smartphones with built-in transceivers which broadcast a user’s position in the event of an avalanche are nothing new, but up until recently they were prohibitively expensive for anyone but the truly hard-core winter sports gurus and adventurers (with a big budget  for survival equipment to match).

A recent article on the Technology.org website reported on the development work by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Prien, thanks to which there could soon be a much cheaper solution to the current technology utilised in avalanche transceivers. The new system takes full advantage of satellite navigation and GPS tracking, as an additional extra to the currently-used technology. The solution can draw upon the combined signals from US, European and Russian satellite systems in addition to its traditional transmitting capabilities, and this combination provides a much more accurate indicator of an individual’s location, thus saving precious time in locating the victim.

As Holger Schultz, a scientist at Fraunhofer IML explains in the article:-

“…Like commonly available avalanche transceivers, the Galileo-LawinenFon has a transmit and search mode. Unlike previous transceivers however, when looking for victims the system is not restricted to the electromagnetic field formed by a transmitted signal but makes use of satellite signals as well. Since our solution draws on numerous available sensors and satellite systems, the signals transmitted by victims can be located with a great deal of precision. Magnetic field signals are processed in 3D so that we can pinpoint accident victims in a matter of seconds and improve their chances of survival…”

Read the full article at: http://www.technology.org/2014/02/07/smartphones-help-find-avalanche-victims/

Red Cross app that can help when hurricanes strike

The International Red Cross has developed a number of disaster-related self-help applications to support users in a range of crisis situations. In a recent review in the iMedicalApps.com website, they focused on a new app product produced by the Red Cross that provides essential tools and information for potential victims of hurricanes and those who have already suffered from them.

According to the article, the app can provide ‘…real-time alerts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). From the main screen (under Prepare) you are able to access a menu for basic recommendations and a checklist on what to do before, during, and after a hurricane, in addition to planning preparations…’. There is also amongst other clever features a very useful ‘Toolkit’ tab, which ‘…includes common emergency resources needed in an acute emergency setting: flashlight, strobe light, alarm, plan preparation, an option to switch to the Red Cross First Aid App, and another access point to the I’m Safe feature…’

To read the full review of the app, visit the iMedicalApps site at: http://www.imedicalapps.com/2014/01/red-cross-mobile-apps-public-health/

SAMHSA Smartphone App to support responders to disasters

The US-based Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently launched a smartphone App, across all major platforms, to cater for the needs of health professionals specialising in psychological and behavioural responses to disaster situations.

As reported in the Psychiatric News website, the app includes resources covering psychological first-aid information, suicide prevention, disaster mental health and self-care. The application also provides search facilities to locate behavioural health services nearby, post deployment guides, and automatically downloads updated content on start-up.

As quoted in the article, technical expert John Luo M.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, explains: ‘…It has simple but effective tips to help address problem-solving with survivors, as well as key reminders for supervisors…’

For more information on the app, visit the SAMHSA website at: http://store.samhsa.gov/apps/disaster/

Information in the field: eHealth innovations to further support healthcare in developing countries

According to Uduak Thomas’s article ‘Mobile technology is changing healthcare in developing nations’, which was re-posted in the Berkeley Science Review in December last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines ‘mHealth’ or ‘mobile health as ‘…a subset of ‘electronic health’ that is concerned with the use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives…’. Looking at the many other articles concerned with mHealth projects that have emerged since, there appears to be little doubt that mobile and digital technology has indeed been used to do just that: to support the achievement of health objectives and thereby make a real difference in the provision of healthcare in the developing world.

The majority of the projects these articles cover seem to focus on improving the provision and distribution of vital healthcare information to remote, rural communities via SMS on mobile networks, where innovators have sensibly exploited the massive proliferation of mobile phone use in the communities concerned, particularly in Africa.

There is a question to be asked though, as to whether mHealth solutions such as these – which deserve huge merit in the achievements they have delivered – are to be the pinnacle of what can be accomplished in this field, as principally ‘data gathering and information distribution’ initiatives, or is it possible to extend the concepts of mHealth and eHealth to provide healthcare practitioners with more dynamic and interconnected tools, that do more than just deliver health advice messages and gather statistics. Is current technology being utilised to its full potential to provide more complex services to doctors and health practitioners in the field, such as access to complete health records and dynamic community health data whilst working at a remote rural location, in spite of the challenges presented by a lack of reliable internet connectivity or intermittent power supplies in many of the communities concerned?

The answer is arguably ‘yes’ with the three cases highlighted here, which all go some way towards demonstrating how technology can go a stage further by bringing additional complex functionality, the like of which was previously only available in larger hospitals and health centres, to healthcare workers ‘in the field’, thereby assisting to an even greater degree in their efforts to help people and their communities in the more remote and disparate communities in which they work.

Carego International: Utilizing open-source and the cloud to provide a practical solution

The Yahoo Finance website seemed an unlikely source for a story on a relatively new solution to provide access to health records in remote locations, but that is where I read about Carego International, and how their new product utilises developments in digital storage and open-source technology to provide a real solution to support the provision of remote healthcare.

According to the article, last month Carego International announced the launch of a new software application, built on Progress Pacific’s cloud-based, open-source platform, to ‘…help remote health clinics improve quality of care in developing regions around the world…’

Referring to the findings of Carego’s CEO Steve Landman, much of the existing medical software he had found in health institutions in developing countries  ‘…wasn’t compatible with local needs, largely due to complexity and an inability to tolerate frequent Internet service outages common in developing regions…’
Building on their previous experience in developing applications for the health sector, Carego decided to develop their latest product using the Progress Pacific development environment, with which they were able to deliver a cloud-based health records solution, which is inexpensive to deploy, easy to manage, and can be rolled out and accessed over nearly any device, be it fixed or mobile. These features make the product ideal for medical organisations in the developing world, which often have limited resources for expensive back-end support systems or mass data storage, and whose staff work in remote rural locations.

Kujua – Medic Mobile’s new communications hub for healthcare providers

In June of this year, following successful roll-out in various locations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Medic Mobile announced the global launch of Kujua, their open-source information and communications hub for clinics in the developing world.  As described in the announcement made on their website: ‘…Kujua, which means “to know” in Swahili, is a web-based application for sending and receiving regular messages and forms, and also for scheduling time-targeted confirmation messages. Right now KujuaLite is optimized for three priority use cases — disease surveillance, stock monitoring, and service monitoring — but can be utilized for a wide range of communication and data collection activities…’ The article goes on to provide a link to a demo of the product, which can be found here: http://medicmobile.org/tools/kujua-lite/

Coupled with Medic Mobile’s existing programmes of distributing basic feature mobile phones to medical practitioners in the field, the company can now provide an end-to-end solution, connecting community members with health volunteers, doctors and the Kujua system as a back-end hub for collaboration and storage of information, to assist with monitoring emerging disease concerns and logging and maintaining communication between all those involved.

Prize winning idea provides practical solution to streamline information management in rural healthcare

Maintaining accurate health records in some sub-Saharan hospitals where paper-based systems still exist, whilst storing them securely and yet still having the means to safely transfer them if a patient moves; – these concerns are challenging enough, without the added difficulties that are sometimes encountered in identifying patients, matching them to their medical records and then needing to share that information as required between healthcare agencies, centres and hospitals. This is the impression one gets when reading an article in the Engineering for Change website (www.engineeringforchange.org), celebrating the winners of the recent ‘IEEE Global Humanitarian Conference’s Young Professionals Project Contest’, who have come up with an ingenious response to these challenges, with the application of an affordable, practical solution utilising RFID (radio frequency identification) cards. In basic terms, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology utilises radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of identifying and tracking ‘tags’ containing electronically stored information that are attached to objects, such as the cards suggested in this solution.

The Engineering for Change article explains how, in the example of tracking and dealing with a disease outbreak in a rural community, the RFID solution could help:

‘…When polio or cholera or any disease breaks out in a community the local clinic will be the first to notice the uptick in cases. If clinics can share their records with central hospitals, then a local tragedy in one community becomes data points on a nationwide map. Then medical authorities can respond, and other communities can prepare and try to prevent new outbreaks…. Those two problems – sharing information between medical centres and identifying patients and their medical records – may have a solution. An entirely electronic health data system plus radio frequency identification chips implanted into ID cards for every patient might be a low-cost and simple way to address both issues…’

As the article continues to explain, RFID technology was chosen as it is a relatively low-cost approach and doesn’t depend on complex networks for communication. The winning team’s chosen system uses standard network protocols and can run on existing or inexpensively sourced hardware.

Accepting that there has been some opposition to using ID cards for similar purposes in the past – understandable, in the context of some of the locations and environments in which the communities concerned live – the project team acknowledged that some work needed to be done towards  local community ‘outreach’, before pilot schemes could be undertaken, but they remain positive on the long-term benefits the solution could provide.

With reference to a proposed pilot in the Kerala region of India, Hassaan Idrees and John Avrett , both involved in the project, added:

“…We would like to give a physical shape to our project by working with federally-endorsed government and non-government organizations. There still are a few grey areas: increased consumer-directed care, new methods of organizing care delivery, and new approaches to financing, but we hope to resolve these with the help of the appropriate stakeholders.”

Computer training on four wheels: Different approaches to ‘driving’ ICT education to where it’s needed

This week I’ve taken the blog down a mobile route, but not in the usual sense when it comes to ICT4D: It’s all about the different ways in which vehicles have been utilised to bring ICT training to those who might need it, in hard-to-reach, rural communities, where education in computing and the resources required are not normally readily available.

Many of the more remote communities in developing countries lack even the most basic in ICT infrastructure, let alone dedicated provision for ICT/computer skills training and internet access, and yet without some form of education in ICT, those communities and in particular their younger generation have restricted opportunities in terms of employment beyond their immediate environment, or access to further and higher education, because of their lack in ICT skills and training. In addition, the communities as a whole are less able to benefit from ICT-based innovations in health provision and agriculture, without access to the necessary training in order to utilise the developments available to them.

Mobile computer ‘labs’ and training facilities have existed in various locations in the developing world for some years now, through a local determination to overcome the lack of ICT provision that still persists in many communities, or a lack of any convenient location to provide lessons in ICT-related skills.

The vehicles used in the projects this post focuses on may vary, from converted four-wheel drive SUVs to full size buses, but the intentions are the same – to bring ICT training to those who may need it most, in the more remote and disconnected locations, and in environments where new skills and a greater understanding of modern technology could lead to greater opportunities for employment, and greater prosperity for the communities involved. Here I’ve looked at four of these stories, to give an overview of the different approaches adopted to provide mobile ICT education.

South Africa – ‘The Big Green eMachine’

One of original (if not the very first) attempts to deliver ICT education in a mobile format was the ‘Big Green eMachine’ on South Africa’s ‘Wild Coast’; a specially converted 4×4 truck that was set up as a joint venture between local NGO Friends of Chintsa, Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees and African Heartland Journeys, with additional financial assistance from other charities. The project has been running since 2010 and provides a mobile lab complete with server, laptops and all the necessary kit to provide ICT training, in as close to a ‘classroom’ environment as can be achieved on four wheels. As explained in a short piece from the E-learning Africa website, the initiative’s aims are all about bringing ICT to those who would otherwise have little access to it in their community environment:

‘…This directly addresses the lack of technology in the extreme rural areas by visiting schools and bringing computer based learning to children in these areas! Furthermore, the mobile lab has proved to be the solution to the lack of space, security risks to assets and the unreliable or non-existent electricity supply. It’s a fantastic project and the students absolutely love it!…’

Sri Lanka – Esoft’s mobile computer bus

Initially put together in 2011, this project provided by local ICT education provider ESoft, aimed to bring basic ICT knowledge and understanding to students and children in disadvantaged areas, where ICT resources and training were scarce or non-existent. At the centre of the project was ESoft’s ‘mobile computer bus’, fully equipped with all the necessary IT equipment required to provide a mobile classroom that is, as described in an article in Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times, ‘…on a par with any modern IT laboratory of an ICT training institute…’

As the CEO of a technology education company, you would expect Dr. Dayan Rajapaksa, ESoft’s Managing Director, to be vocal on the importance of providing ICT education to a mass audience. Yet what he’s quoted as suggesting in the Sunday Times article rings true and reads as a very concise recognition of the need to address the ‘digital divide’, between those with and those without access to ICT resources, education and understanding:

“…In the future world, nobody will be able to successfully steer his/her personal or professional life without depending on ICT. It is such a critically important component. Therefore, it is a national duty to impart knowledge and training on ICT to the younger generation who will take over as the country’s future leaders… It is bad enough that these students have no access to ICT due to a dearth of facilities, but it is still worse that they have no proper understanding of how important it is to be computer literate for their future prospects and wellbeing. There must be students among them who have the aptitude for ICT excellence. The objective of the ESOFT CSR project is to impart basic ICT knowledge and training and make these students understand the importance of academically arming themselves to excel in this important sphere. This will also open the door to better career prospects in a diverse field…”

St Lucia –  ICT for schools in the back of a mini-bus

A recent development on the Caribbean island of St Lucia has brought ICT to local schools, ‘centres for boys’ and correctional facilities, using a converted mini-bus packed with ICT resources and learning aids. When the bus pays weekly visits to two local schools, pupils are given the opportunity to use various ICT learning devices to help with their mathematics and language skills. Through an EU-funded programme (the EEICTP or Education Enhancement through Information Communication Technology Programme), the project is supporting the existing curriculum by providing the children with invaluable additional experience that would not normally be available to them, using digital devices and computers alongside their usual classroom teaching.

An article on the EEICTP St Lucia website explains the ethos behind the mobile facility, again recognising the need to address issues surrounding the division between those who do and those who don’t have ready access to ICT training and resources:

‘…The pioneering mobile ICT bus is equipped with Wi-Fi and electronic gadgets and visits the Boguis Primary School in Babonneau and the Les Etangs Primary School in Soufriere once a week…The initiative is part of the EEICTP’s outreach which has ushered in a new era of digital inclusiveness, bridging the gap between access to technology among students of urban and rural schools.…’

The Principal of one of the schools, Murina Julian of Boguis Primary, elaborates further on the importance of ICT education for her pupils:

“…In this technological world, our students need access to computers and since we are a rural school, we still have some students who are deprived of this access. You find as a result the students look forward to the visit of the Mobile ICT bus and are enthusiastic about learning…”

Uganda – One women’s mission to bring ICT to rural communities

The last focus of this post is perhaps the most appropriate to round off with, demonstrating as it does how one person’s drive and enthusiasm, with a little help from technology and a local NGO, can provide the solution to a communities lack of ICT knowledge, awareness or opportunity.

Ina Fried’s informative article from October 2012 in the All Things D website tells the story of Asia Kumukana. Asia was educated in Uganda and attended university there,  yet didn’t use a computer until she was 22, due to a dearth of resources or access to ICT at any stage of her education. Once hooked on technology, she decided she wanted to address the problem, particularly for those in rural areas:

‘…From the moment she got her first taste of computing, Uganda’s Asia Kamukama knew that she wanted more of her people to get their hands on this…Fast-forward a few years, and she helps run Maendeleo Foundation (see below), an organization that does just that — bringing a solar-powered mobile computing lab to rural villages. The effort brings together about 15 Intel Classmate PCs, along with the solar panels needed to power the machines…’

The article goes on to explain how Asia’s project planned to leave some of the computers and equipment behind at the schools and libraries that the mobile lab visited, hopefully providing a more permanent resource for those in the remote locations which up until then had not had access to them; – an additional benefit that this clever mobile solution was able to impart to those it has helped.

Further Information: The Maendeleo Foundation

The Maendeleo Foundation, a United States registered NGO, was set up with the aim of promoting the development of a productive computer services industry in East Africa, in part by helping local communities to have greater access to ICT through the use and promotion of solar energy sources at a local level. This is particularly relevant in Uganda, where some sources suggest that less than 10% of the rural community has access to a continuous electricity supply.

Their mission statement available from their website explains the organisations’ aims: ‘…Maendeleo Foundation’s mission is to complement the existing education system by making computers available to people of all ages, providing customized training, and encouraging and supporting the formation of Information Communication Technology businesses. We operate innovative training programs in a network of primary schools, and cooperate with organizations of similar interests that share our commitment to the promotion of technology for development…’

Mobile tech making a difference: learning to read and public health awareness

My last post looked at the importance of prioritising basic IT hardware provision, as much as focussing on the grander, long-term schemes being proposed to provide internet connectivity ‘to all’, such as internet.org and Loon. It goes without saying that the provision of computers and the necessary training and expertise in the schools, colleges and hospitals of developing nations is vital, if those institutions are to fully embrace the digital revolution that the global visionaries mentioned above hope to achieve.

This time around it’s all about mobile technology in developing countries, where the advances and developments that have been made over a relatively short period have been very impressive. Again, referencing my last post, the provision of hardware with these mobile solutions is just as important, and in the two examples I’ve featured here, either the hardware is provided, or the technology involved harnesses the power of the device that’s already in many people’s pockets – the standard mobile phone.

I’ve deliberately picked two very different examples in terms of their aims and approach, and there have been many other varied initiatives in this area, all with their own merits, successes and inevitable issues and challenges in terms of what they hoped to achieve, and how they’ve faired over time.

The two initiatives I’ve focussed on have had a huge impact on the communities they’ve helped and in very different ways, but there is a common theme of connecting disparate, hard-to-reach communities that without the resources these initiatives provide, would be less connected and less able to tackle the basic challenges of life, through greater access to healthcare information, and real, practical educational resources.

Worldreader – ‘Books for all’

Worldreader, a US-based global non-profit organisation, aim to provide widespread access to digital books to children, their families and communities with the aim of improving the lives of potentially millions of people. According to their website, (http://www.worldreader.org/what-we-do/) as of June 2013 they have:

‘…put over 662,008 e-books – and the life-changing, power-creating ideas contained within them – into the hands of 4,300 children in sub-Saharan Africa. Those children now read more, read better, and are improving their communities…’.

There are numerous stories and articles on the web about the successes of Worldreaders’ projects, and how they have had a major, positive impact on education and improved literacy for many people through the provision of reading material via e-readers. What made them stand out for me was in a reference to their Africa programs, where it was noted that Worldreader have made a point of ensuring that many of the books they provide are from African publishers and authors. This clearly has obvious benefits, in that students can engage more easily with content that is familiar to them, and schools are able to use local textbooks that are more relevant and accessible to students and teachers alike. It also seems to be a sensible, ethical approach, to be promoting the work of local authors and publishers, as well as providing access to international books when needed.

For an interesting local insight into one of WorldReader’s recent projects, see a recent blog post from Worldreader’s own blog, on their work at the Dwankhozi Primary School in Zambia: http://www.worldreader.org/blog/new-country-new-project-empowering-zambian-children-with-books/

For more general information on Worldreader, visit their main website at: http://www.worldreader.org/

Frontline SMS

Frontline SMS has been around for a while now, with its first prototype product being launched in 2005, but it’s still worth highlighting as one of the great innovations in truly global mobile communications that has been used so effectively in the developing world, to make a positive difference to people’s lives and the communities in which they live.

The Frontline SMS software is freely available and was developed to give communities and organisations the ability to have two-way connectivity and group text-messaging services in locations without reliable internet access, via standard mobile phone networks. Whilst the service has developed over the years to harness further developments, such as web portals and most recently cloud technology, the principles behind the initiative remain the same.

One example of Frontline SMS in action is with a current project in Kenya, where a combined effort between local communities and Kenyan journalists through the International Media Support organisation (www.i-m-s.dk) is aiming to utilise Frontline SMS services to raise awareness and build up a knowledge base on diabetes in Kenya. In an article on the initiative, Laura Walker Hudson, CEO of Social Impact Lab Foundation who developed Frontline SMS, puts it simply:

“…New technology makes life saving information available for patients and next of kin with limited access to media. Social media and crowd-sourced media are moving the standards and Frontline SMS has been instrumental in using their 2.0 platform to bring a voice to thousands of diabetes affected Kenyans…”

The whole article can be viewed here:
http://www.frontlinesms.com/2013/09/19/a-mobile-phone-text-messaging-service-and-a-new-webportal-are-bridging-the-information-gap-on-diabetes-in-kenya-where-the-disease-annually-kills-more-people-than-hivaids/

The Frontline SMS software is free to download and use. The text messages themselves are the only cost, so the system provides an extremely affordable way of reaching a wider audience when other means of digital connectivity are not readily available. The service has proved invaluable, particularly in communicating messages on public health issues and gathering information from patients and their communities, as can be seen above.

For more information on Frontline SMS, visit their website at: http://www.frontlinesms.com/