Could mHealth strategies help control Ebola?
02-Dec-14, The Lancet
Owing to the high penetration of mobile phone subscriptions in Guinea (63/100 people), Liberia (60/100 people), and Sierra Leone (44/100 people), mHealth strategies could be a low-cost, high-impact solution to mapping outbreaks and providing education.
%20IBM%20Research.jpg "Controlling Ebola through mHealth strategies (c) IBM Research")
Image: IBM Research
IBM launched a disease-mapping system in October, 2014. Collaboration between Sierra Leone's largest mobile provider, AirTel, and IBM allows local people to send free text messages about Ebola to the Government. Heat-maps that link emerging issues to location information can then be created.
mHealth strategies also have the potential to be used as an educational tool for behaviour change. In Sierra Leone, the Red Cross has worked in collaboration with Airtel to launch a platform that sends informative text messages to people in the most affected areas.