Mobile phones activism for fighting diseases
South Africa is severely hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic with nearly 11% of the population living with the virus. There is a large population of children and teens affected by the deadly disease. To curb the further spread of the virus and to involve the community in the fight against AIDS, Cell-Life - a South African NGO has come up with a new exciting idea. That’s what MobileActive has to say on this:
South Africa has a mobile density of 75% and the organization got this idea to use this deep penetration of mobile phones as an effective means of tackling the HIV issue. Cape Town-based Cell-Life Cell-Life’s “Cellphones for HIV” project continues with two new pilot projects. In one pilot, Cell-Life will collaborate with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in the Western Cape to provide information to communicty trainers and the wider HIV community. In the second pilot, Cell-Life will work with Soul City, which uses television and radio dramas to discuss issues such as social norms, health, and HIV/AIDS. Specifically, Cell-Life will support the Soul Buddyz campaign, which targets 8-12 year olds.
The projects will use SMS for polls, infolines, and information messages and may use “Please call me” messages in order to keep costs low for the user. Cell-Life also plans to work with MXit, a popular mobile phone instant message system in South Africa.
The same strategy can be implemented in Pakistan. We can start with the women and infants’ health. Pakistan has one of the highest infant mortality rate along with the deaths during childbirth. Using the cellular technology, expecting mothers or those having infant kids can be given suggestions, medical advice and general training on these issues. If successful, the mobile activism can be branched out to other arenas of healthcare especially educating masses on sanitary conditions which are a major source of diseases. It’s true that mobile penetration is quite shallow in the rural areas but the situation is not as bad as was a decade back. Any NGOs or mobile companies listening?
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