14 DAY TRIAL // The US Government has joined forces with several leading players in the mobile phone industry in order to fight HIV/AIDS and other health challenges in 10 African countries, 'Phones for Health' is a $10 million partnership that brings together mobile phone manufacturers, operators and technology companies to use the widespread mobile coverage in the developing world to strengthen health systems.
The companies included in the partnership will initially focus on 10 African countries and are likely to extend further in Africa and Asia in the future. Health workers in the field will be equipped with a standard Motorola handset that comes with a downloadable application to enter health data. Once the data is entered it will be transferred via a packet based mobile connection into a central database.
"Rapid and accurate communications channels are crucial to tackling the many health problems faced by African countries and other parts of the developing world," said Rob Conway, Chief Executive of the GSM Association. "The roll out of this health management software in Africa will clearly demonstrate how governments can exploit the expanding mobile infrastructure to enhance the well-being of their citizens."
Health workers will also be able to use the system to order medicine, send alerts, download treatment guidelines, training materials and access other appropriate information," said Paul Meyer, Chairman of Voxiva, the company that has designed the software. "Managers at the regional and national level can access information in real-time via a web based database."
More than 60 percent of the population now lives in areas with mobile phone coverage and the figure is expected to rise to 85 percent by 2010. This is why mobile phones are an efficient way to relay the information directly into the health authorities' computer systems.