Development Fund
Phones for Health Introduction Health systems in the developing world suffer from a lack of reliable, up-to-date information from the field. New outbreaks of disease or shortages of medicine are generally reported on paper forms which can take weeks or months to reach the relevant health officials. These delays, combined with poor quality or incomplete information, seriously impair health authorities’ ability to respond and manage health programs effectively.
Programme Background Working with Ministries of Health in Peru, Rwanda and India, Voxiva, a leading healthcare software provider, has developed and deployed web- and mobile phone-based health information systems. These systems allow for real-time reporting of health data from the field, allowing governments to make informed decisions and take fast action. Last year, with support from the GSMA Development Fund and Motorola, Voxiva developed a mobile phone client application and integrated it with the core health applications. The new software application, piloted in Rwanda and Indonesia, is written in Java which enables it to run on a wide range of mobile phones and PDAs. This allows health workers to input data into their phone or PDA and then transfer the data via a GPRS connection into a central database. If GPRS isn’t available, the software can use an SMS data channel to transmit the information. The health workers can also order medicine, send alerts, download treatment guidelines, training materials and other appropriate information using the software. The handset software is faster, more efficient and more reliable than current methods to file reports and order medicines used by health workers.
Role of the GSMA Development Fund The Development Fund financed the creation of the J2ME used for capturing client data via handhelds and provided a full time in-country resource to offer project management support for the pilots.
Phones for Health Public-Private Partnership Leading players in the mobile phone industry and the U.S. Government have joined forces to help fight HIV/AIDS and other health challenges in 10 African countries by 2010. Phones for Health is a cutting edge public-private partnership, which brings together mobile phone operators, handset manufacturers and technology companies – working in close collaboration with Ministries of Health, global health organisations and other partners – to use the widespread and increasing mobile phone coverage in the developing world to strengthen health systems.
The Phones for Health partners – the GSM Association’s Development Fund, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Accenture Development Partnerships, Motorola, MTN and Voxiva are initially focused on 10 African countries, building on an already successful deployment in Rwanda. The partnership is also likely to be extended further in Africa and Asia to address tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases. Phones for Health will allow health workers in the field to use a standard handset equipped with a downloadable application to enter health data. Once entered, the data is mapped and analyzed by the system and immediately available to health authorities at multiple levels via the web. The system also supports SMS alerting and notification and tools for communication and coordination with field staff. “The explosive spread of mobile phone networks across the developing world has created a unique opportunity to significantly transform how countries can tackle global health challenges,” said Dr. Howard Zucker, Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), representing the WHO at the Partnership’s launch at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. The Phones for Health alliance builds on the partners’ successful experience in Rwanda deploying a system built by Voxiva called TRACnet. Working in close co-operation with the Government of Rwanda and PEPFAR, the system has been used for the last two years to manage that country’s national HIV/AIDS program. “Ensuring high quality treatment and care services for HIV/AIDS patients requires innovative ways of providing timely, relevant information to both program managers and service providers regardless of where services are being delivered,” said Ambassador Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.
Case Study: MTN Rwanda Supported by MTN, Rwanda’s largest mobile Operator, Voxiva and the GSMA’s Development Fund have completed testing of the software in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. The tests, conducted in collaboration with the Rwanda National Institute of Statistics (RNIS), used the software to capture information on health infrastructure normally collected on paper forms. “This technology is revolutionizing how data is captured in the field,” said Dr. Louis Munyakazi, Director General of NISR. Following on from the success of this pilot, the GSMA and Voxiva are planning to rollout the mobile phone solution across Rwanda and other African countries in need, such as Nigeria and South Africa.
“Working with the GSMA Development Fund, Voxiva has developed and implemented mobile phone-based data collection systems to help developing countries tackle pressing health challenges such as HIV/AIDS and Avian Flu. These systems offer health workers in the field the ability to report real-time data on suspected disease outbreaks, patients on treatment, drug supplies, etc. Unlike traditional paper-based systems, where it takes weeks or months for information to filter up, these systems allow for health authorities to view and analyse data immediately and coordinate their response in real time. Our successful deployments in Latin America, Africa and Asia clearly show how the mobile phone infrastructure that GSMA members have built can be leveraged to address some of the critical health challenges facing countries. We are now working with the GSMA and Operators to replicate these solutions for governments across the developing world.” Paul Meyer Chairman and President Voxiva Inc.
Phones for Health Programme Overview In many African countries, fixed-line Internet connections are rare and paper forms are still the primary way of recording the spread of disease. But more than 60% of the population now lives in areas with mobile phone coverage and the GSMA expects that figure to rise to 85% by 2010. That has made it feasible to use mobile phones to relay this information directly into health authorities’ computer systems, allowing rapid interventions such as distribution of medication and education programmes for those at risk. MTN, which operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, is the first operator partner in this programme and will support the roll out of handsets and the underlying data service. “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.” Phones for Health is building on the partners’ successful experience in Rwanda deploying a system built by Voxiva called TRACnet. Working in close co-operation with the Government of Rwanda and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the system has been used for the last two years to manage that country’s national HIV/AIDS program. The system allows health workers in the field to use their mobile phones to submit critical data on patients, drug supplies, lab results, etc. “With TRACnet, we have a powerful tool to manage the HIV/AIDS program and deliver care to Rwanda’s HIV/AIDS patients. Health care workers use something as simple as a cell-phone, even where there is no electricity, to report on the number of patients on treatment, drug stock levels and the other key data we need. Rwanda is the first country in Africa with a nationalscale real-time information system to manage its HIV/AIDS program. We believe this can be a model for scaling up HIV/AIDS programs across Africa.” Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Executive Secretary, Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission. The partnership will allow health workers in the field to use a standard Motorola handset equipped with a downloadable application to enter health data. The system then transfers the data via a packet based mobile connection (GPRS) into a central database. If GPRS isn’t available, the software can use a SMS data channel to transmit the information.
Development Fund www.gsmworld.com/developmentfund GSMA/DevFund/PFHP/01.07
If you would like to be part of our Phones for Health Programme or would like more information, please contact… Dawn Hartley Development Fund Manager GSMA Development Fund 1st Floor Mid City Place 71 High Holborn London WC1 V 6EA United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)7769 881090 Email: dhartley@gsm.org