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How PDAs Are Saving Lives In Africa
Mark Goldberg writes "UN Dispatch, the United Nations affairs blog I write, just posted an item that may interest this community. Joel Selanikio, a medical doctor and technologist, writes to us from Zambia to relay how PDA devices are quietly revolutionizing public health services in sub-Saharan Africa. Selanikio runs a non-profit called DataDyne.org that trains local health officials to use PDAs equipped with an open source software tool to track outbreaks, coordinate vaccination efforts, and perform other vital public health tasks. So far, says Selanikio, the pilot program in Zambia has been a resounding success.
Datadyne is the name of the evil corporation in Perfect Dark.
I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
This solution seems a bit more elegant with PDAs. Has anyone else worked on a project like this?
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
And do you think trite phrases like "corrupt governments" does anything?
We send billions of $ to the peoples of Africa, and some to the governments in which we have either befriended or threatened with being "blowd up". I havent heard much of Kadafi recently.. Wonder why.
And frankly, we need the peoples of Africa to unite and overthrow the governments we dont like. So, we help the peoples.
And lastly... diseases dont just stay in one place.
"This is great news, I have been peeking into ways to centralize information from third world countries mission projects. Our church here currently has a medical team that they send to Haiti but there is an issue with creating a database to track individuals."
Uh oh! Religious people and a centralized database to track people. Seriously I wish you the best.
"This solution seems a bit more elegant with PDAs. Has anyone else worked on a project like this?"
Well a PDA can present a more friendly and in depth front-end, but the back-end is going to remain pretty much the same. Now if you want to make this a two-way the possibilities are much greater. But I'm not certain what the quality of cell service is in third-world countries.
While it is good that things are being done about Africa. Who is providing this hardware to these people? if it is an American company/Government would the money not be better spent at home? The only way Africa is going to be saved is if someone starts businesses and gets these people off the streets and gets them some money and a way of life. Just handing someone something gets them nowhere. But time after time we send money to places like this and it just gets worse, or they end up spending it on guns and bombs and hating us 20 years later. Please quit sending aid, send jobs. You can mod me a troll if you want but you know I am right.
I don't like pointing out problems without solutions. It might be a good idea to replicate the functionality of the PDAs as far as possible in paper, and then to have bulk entry facilities in Sahana. I know that PDAs are the optimal solution in terms of using technology the way it was supposed to, but situational realities can dictate otherwise.
I think it's dangerous to assume that the people who will be in control of the conduits through which the system acquires information are sophisticated to the extent that they can successfully handle a PDA, yet it is good design to have facilities for people who can.
And since we're looking at F/LOSS ICT4D projects, I can think of no more worthy a project than Mifos (disclaimer, I was involved in this project): a shared open source microfinance platform in Java. Worth a look if you're a Java coder and would like to pitch in!
The Banjo Players Must Die!
And frankly, we need the peoples of Africa to unite and overthrow the governments we dont like. So, we help the peoples.
actually, by giving people a better quality of life we can make their futures seem a bit less dismal. it's largely the desperation of the poor and downtrodden, both at home and abroad, that leads them to stuff like petty crime and upto evil-doing such as suicide bombing and spree killings.
if you take the time to look over the recruits that are being brought into street gangs and extreme fundamentalist groups it's normally the poor and uneducated. of course, you will always have exceptions but they're just that. the norm for jihadists aren't the bin ladens of the world but the poor village kids who don't really want another 50 or 60 years of desert farming while they watch their peers and families die of diseases that we take as easily curable.
Damnit! I was going to register that company name over here in the states! Looks like I'll have to figure something out then....
Previewing comments are for sissies!
I actually built a PDA application that is used for snow science, the data is collected in the field from various locations world wide on the PDA's and sent to our central DB (MySQL), see http://snowpilot.org/ . Mark
Organizations now exist that do the same for bicycles. It's the same idea--health care workers can reach more people more efficiently (plus, they're a bonus for anyone doing any sort of job that involves moving stuff).
How can this be? Slashdot slams every proposal for technology in Africa as impractical and irrelevant; technological development is somehow supposed to wait until after economic and political development have taken place. I guess not.
This story seems to me to be another page from the same book; the more information the community has about itself, and can share with others, the better the quality of life for the community. With so much horror in Africa these days, it's heartening to hear a good news story.
What was once true, is no longer so
I wonder if this sort of thing could be developed for (or ported over to) the One-Laptop-Per-Child? OLPC is an open platform, so there should be possible. Data entry would be even easier with a larger screen and full-sized keyboard. The construction of the OLPC is certainly rugged, and it has power consumption almost as low as a PDA (rechargeable in the field, too). The wireless capabilities (when available) allow it to beam the data back in near-realtime to the health database. The costs are comparable, too. A stumbling block may be that OLPC isn't targeted to government officials, but rather students.
So, I suppose you have $10 million in illicit PDA sales to funnel into the US, and you're willing to give me $2 million to help with the transaction? And, I suppose I just have to pay the $2K retainer for the big payoff...We won't be fooled again!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
It seems that with their AIDS epidemic public displays of effection would do more to harm lives then to save li- oh...wait...wrong PDA. Never mind... nothing to see here, move along.
First post = troll. Cleverly worded post designed to enrage others = flamebait.
I know they say it's been the Information Age for a few decades but for me it really seemed to arrive with wide-scale access to the internet. I remember having a disagreement with a coworker about something that was a verifiable fact. Hit the net, boom, there's the answer. Ok, so what's so impressive about that? The information was already recorded in a book somewhere. We've had books and libraries for thousands of years. True, but it's access to that information that's the key. Information that I don't have that's just sitting in a book somewhere is useless to me, especially if I don't even know I should be looking for it.
The internet was already plenty cool when we still needed bulky desktops and phone lines. With wireless and handhelds, we're talking about raising it to a new level. I've got the whole frickin' wikipedia available on my cell phone, not to mention anything else I'd care to look at online. This is total scifi territory right now. Extrapolating out a few decades, how much longer until we don't even need a phone to access it?
Just because the information is there, not everyone will avail themselves of it. But the greater the exposure, the more likely you'll you'll find people who will recognize the advantage and run with it. Ignorance ain't much of an excuse anymore, not when you can just fucking google it.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Here's your expected comment:
Until Africa stabilizes itself politically, improving public health feels good and makes everyone look humanitarian, but it really just creates a much larger problem involving overpopulation and ecological disaster.
I read this again just the other day in the Times -- all the feel-good Western "help" programs that "improve" the lives of Africans have largely just increased the population to the extent that there is no longer farmland that can be meaningfully subdivided in Africa, forcing people into urban areas where they live in poverty and join in whatever military coup that comes down the pike (free drugs, an AK-47 and a chance to kill your rivals).
And this is when the programs *work* -- when they don't work, all we end up doing is lining the pockets of thugs like Robert Mugabe, Daniel Arap Moi, and enabling proto-thugs like Thabo "AIDS is a conspiracy, take this folk remedy" Mbeki.
Repeat After Me: Westerns Cannot Save Africans. Only Africans can Save Africans. When Africans have a stable political system they can (easily!) solve many of these basic problems like clean water, healthcare, etc. Until then, "solving" these problems by Africans means dying by machete/mortar/7.62x39 round in political infighting instead of malaria.
And while I'm on my soap box, where are all the Westerners (generally leftists) who were so behind all the African "freedom fighters" in the 1960s and 70s? Shouldn't they be accepting some of the blame for putting into power some of these unbelievably corrupt African regimes?
(Thanks, I'll gladly repost for the next Western-geek-tech-saves-Africa article).
Snicker.
I currently work in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and have an Indonesian friend is working for the UN. He works on a similar project where he is collecting data from villages using a smart phone. However he doesn't actually enter it directly into a smart phone - he writes the information down on paper because it is easier and faster and then goes to the local coffee shop to enter it into smart phone. From personal experience I know that it's not that easy to quickly enter information into a PDA/smart phone.
This may still be a better solution than having the paper surveys taken back to a data entry person who enters them in a computer. At least in this example he is entering the data into electronic format while it is still fresh in his head.
The difficulty of entering data also depends on the type of survey. Quantitative information (numbers, check boxes and lists) is easier than qualitative information (words). However technology also allows for some information to be collected very easily (photos, GPS).
I also think that it is important to consider the barrier that a PDA will create between the interviewer and the interviewee. "Fancy Technology" like a PDA can be distracting, it can emphasize the power imbalance between the people and it could make people less honest with the the information they give. If you only earned $1 a day would you feel more comfortable telling that to someone with a clipboard or a PDA?
This article is written by the guy that invented the system. He's just tooting his own horn--who knows if it is really doing any good? Odds are, probably not. --AR
Puzzling why they don't simply use a good old pencil and paper. The cost of one hand held can provide lots of paper and pencils and/or medicine. Years ago I worked in a hospital in Swaziland and rule lined exercise books for recording medicial situations did quite well. But things and understanding moves on so can the poster please explain the benfits of the hand held approach.
We should be spending resources to develop biological agents to eliminate these sub-human chimps, not save their lives in some mistaken act of zealotry. Please visit http://www.stormfront.org/forum/ for further discussion.
So it can be used in South Africa to cure AIDS.