Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Texting becomes a health tool in Kenya

Joe DeCapua of voanews.com writes:

Mobile phone use in Africa has spread far, wide and fast. By the end of last year, it was estimated that 70 percent of the population would have a mobile phone. Now, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says it’s using the technology to save lives.

In Kenya, the IFRC has developed the Rapid Mobile Phone-based survey, otherwise known as RAMP. It allows the medical aid group to learn a lot about the health of people in remote, rural communities in very little time.

Jason Peat, the senior health officer for malaria, says the idea for the survey came from IFRC volunteers.

“There are volunteers using those mobile phones to communicate. They’re doing it two ways. They’re using them as a regular phone, but more often than not we see them use the phones to send text messages back and forth because they’re a very inexpensive way to communicate. Red Cross volunteers and other community health workers at a very local level were already figuring out a way to manage activities, to manage programs and not just health programs, but all programs using mobile phones,” he said.

Volunteers use RAMP to collect data on such things as antenatal and newborn care, immunizations, malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea and other health issues. Peat says the mobile phone survey has sharply reduced costs. It’s 10 times cheaper compared to the old clipboard method.  And it saves a lot of time.

“It’s incredibly quick,” said Peat, “I mean we have a data bulletin in 24 hours, where it took us months to generate a data bulletin before. And we can have a written report within three days. I mean to be straight, it requires a person sitting behind a computer and putting in a full day. But in all the RAMPS we’ve done to date, we’ve had a data bulletin out in 24 hours and we’ve had the first draft of the survey report out in three days.”

The faster the information is gathered, the faster the response.

“This tool allows us very quickly to get to the root of the issue. It allows us to say immediately these are where we have problems. These are where we want to change the health indicators. And this tool gives us that data and the nice thing about it is you can monitor progress very quickly,” he said.

The World Health Organization and top epidemiologists helped the Red Cross develop RAMP. The mobile phone survey is being used to help Kenya and other African countries reach the Millennium Development Goals on health. The target date for the MDGs is 2015

Listen to Joe De Capua report on the Red Cross mobile phone survey

Originally published on voanews.com

Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Categories: Applications, OpinionNumber of views: 13695

Tags: sms opinion messaging health kenya

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Podcast - 30th May 2012

This week's mobile industry news podcast from The Fonecast takes a gloomy look at HP's job losses, the end of the Cisco Cius tablet and the growth in Android malware - before cheering up with encouraging news from Orange, Yahoo! and Sidecar.

You can listen to the programme on our website audio player, via iTunes, by using our RSS feed or by downloading the MP3.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 25th May 2012

Performance marketing network Tradedoubler has introduced a new mobile platform this week.

We asked Rob Wilson, who runs the company's UK and Ireland operations, to explain the challenges and opportunities of mobile commerce.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 23rd May 2012

Facebook's flotation is the big news story this week - but there's plenty more to talk about, including two new UK virtual networks, the launch of a new mobile payment service and mobile WiFi arriving on cross-channel trains.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: 5.0

Podcast - 18th May 2012

We talk to Dariush Zand, founder and CEO of Ovivo Mobile, about his new advertising-funded UK MVNO. Our conversation covers everything from setting up a 'virtual network' to Ovivo's plans for the future.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: 5.0

Podcast - 16th May 2012

It's been another busy week for the mobile industry, with European roaming charges, Facebook applications, Yahoo's CEO, mobile payments, free messaging and financial results all hitting the headlines.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First3233343537394041Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«November 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
28293031123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829301
2345678

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement