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/