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

From smart cards to solar shelters: technology to support Syrian refugees

Happy new year to all, this being my first post of 2014. Hopefully those who took a break in December had a good one, and are feeling suitably refreshed to start the new year with renewed enthusiasm. Christmas in my part of the world – south-east England, to be specific – was a bit different this year. Thanks to the series of very severe storms (by British standards, I hasten to add!) and heavy rain that lashed many parts of Britain just before the ‘big day’, by the 25^th of December we were on our third day-long power cut, with no heat or light, a leaking roof, and some other minor storm damage to add to our woes.

Once the children had unwrapped their presents in semi-darkness and it was clear we were not going to have any power until the 26^th, we realised it was time to seek shelter elsewhere, falling on the sympathy of friends and family for a few days until we could return home to clean up and switch the lights back on. A Christmas to forget you might say, but in many ways we were the lucky ones; forty houses not half a mile from where we live had to be evacuated, as rivers burst their banks and flooded homes and businesses; a far more miserable prospect than losing all the refrigerated food to a three-day power cut. The whole experience was difficult, uncomfortable, at times damp and cold, but mercifully short term; – disappointed as the family was, we could get in the car and drive off somewhere warm and welcoming, and return when things were back to normal again.

As one does in these situations once the initial irritation has passed, you try to look for some positives, and perhaps consider the many people around the world in a far worse state than yourself. An obvious point, but it didn’t take a lot of thought to conclude that the temporary interruption to normal life I had just experienced gave me no idea, whatsoever, of what it’s like to be truly displaced. For the millions of refugees around the world, who cannot return to their homes like I could after a couple of inconvenient days on the road, and who instead wake up one morning to find their lives shattered by conflict or natural disaster, with some having lost loved ones in the process, I have the utmost respect.

Bearing these sobering thoughts in mind, and keeping with the key ‘how tech can help…’ theme of this blog, I’ve decided to usher in 2014 by focusing on some clever applications of technology being used to try to help those displaced by the civil war in Syria, who perhaps as recently as the start of 2013 had their own homes and normal lives, and who now have little or no idea of when they will be able to return.

Specialist SIM cards and Electronic Food Vouchers for Refugees

Two schemes utilising smart/SIM card technology are covered in an article in the UN-backed Integrated Regional Information Networks website.

The first looks at a UNHCR-run programme to produce specially designed mobile SIM cards, which are planned for distribution amongst inhabitants of the main refugee centres in Jordan, including Al Zaatari camp, home to over 120,000 people. The custom designed cards allow users to receive mass information messages, as well as make free calls to the UNHCR information line. According to the article, the SIM cards will not expire, even if no credit is added to the account.

The second scheme is being run by the World Food Programme in Turkey, in conjunction with the Turkish Red Crescent Society. This is an electronic food voucher scheme, providing refugees with electronic cards loaded with ‘credit’, with which they can purchase their own goods at local stores. As the article suggests, there appear to be many potential benefits to the scheme, such as reducing the need to manage large-scale food provision and eliminating the black marketization of ‘free food items’. Arguably, the scheme also restores a bit of normality and dignity to those it aims to help, as they have a degree of choice in the items they can buy, rather than relying on the traditional approach of whatever can be sought via mass food distribution.

The full article can be found here: http://www.irinnews.org/report/99127/syrian-aid-in-the-tech-age

‘Flat-Packed’ Solar Shelters

When we consider ‘flat-packed’ as a retail concept, the first brand most of us think of is the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea, who are best known for producing and selling affordable, easy-to-assemble flat-packed furniture, in a multitude of countries across the globe.

Early in 2013, as reported in an article in the Renewable Energy World website in November, the company announced plans to help the cause of refugees by developing solar-powered shelters. Known as ‘Refugee Housing Units (RHUs)’, the shelters have already been deployed to areas in Ethiopia and Syria, providing a more stable and secure shelter with the addition of power than existing tented solutions. Utilising USB ports to provide charging points for devices such as mobile phones, the shelters stick to Ikea’s tried and tested philosophy of easy-assembly, using a steel frame and plastic panels as the basic structure.

As the article explains:

‘…The new shelter also offers more insulation than the tents can, as well as more privacy for those living in them. The ability to use the solar panel to power a light at night or electronic devices can help the refugees live a better life, so children can read at night or adults can cook food more easily…’.

With reference to the practicalities of the long-term cost-effectiveness of the solution, the article continues:

‘…The shelters are still in prototype stages and cost about $7,000, but according to a Spiegel article earlier this month, “once they go into large-scale production, designers are aiming for a price of $1,000.” Thus far, the Ikea Foundation has donated about $4.8 million to the project…’.

The full article can be found at: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/11/ikea-shipping-flat-packed-solar-powered-shelters-to-refugees