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.

Comments

Unfortunate naming

[PresidentEnder]

Datadyne is the name of the evil corporation in Perfect Dark.

Re:Unfortunate naming

[Rob T Firefly]

Thank you for informing us of this. We at DataDyne had no idea, and we do not wish to be compared to or invite comparison to the evil corporation from "Perfect Dark." To this end we have officially changed our name, and we shall begin large-scale rebranding efforts right away.

Sincerely,
The Umbrella Corporation

Fantastic

[COMON$]

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. Initially I was hoping to hook them up with access via a cell card in a laptop to a website running mySQL so that they could track prescriptions and individuals when they are back in the states.

This solution seems a bit more elegant with PDAs. Has anyone else worked on a project like this?

Re:Fantastic

[James McP]

About six years ago the engineering firm I work for had a public outreach program where high school students were given PDAs (Palm IIIx) to collect data on the storm and sanitary sewers along creeks. The kids would note which manholes were in the streams, where there were roof downspouts directly attached to the storm sewers, etc. Each manhole has their ID number stamped into the rim and the kids had paper maps as backup.

The data quality was spotty and the teenagers were pretty hard on the equipment but hey, they were teenagers. However the process as a whole was successful. There were virtually no complaints about the difficulty of data entry. Which is pretty encouraging since a non-programmer used a low-cost off-the-shelf PDA database to put it together. It would sync up with Access, which was good enough at the time. The kicker for most PDA data collectors is the sync process. It's worth it to pay someone for a decent data sync plug-in.

Today you should be able to do as well just as easily, if not better.

ICT4D, handheld solutions

[JosefAssad]

Shiny handheld frontends look nice on a project proposal, but in the field there's often very good reasons why they just don't work out the way they were expected to. In microfinance, handheld frontends are much talked about as a means of lowering transaction costs but in a research paper (probably from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, but I forget), the majority of such solutions failed to have any discernible impact on operations or on efficiency other than the disruption of rolling them out. I had made a comment on the sahana mailing list which summarizes my feelings:

• PDAs are not cheap
• PDAs are therefore (and for other reasons such as demand, or the lack of in developing nations) very far from ubiquitous.
• Break a PDA and it's an issue (replacement, management making a fuss and having to replace, yadda yadda; you know how it goes)
• PDAs require a certain level of sophistication to operate (yes, I know everything requires some training. But if you mishandle a PDA, you replace it. PAper is more redundant, and commodity PCs too)
• PDAs require an extra little bit of logistics; charging, synchronization facilities and schedules, etc.

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!

Re:ICT4D, handheld solutions

[mysterious_mark]

I'd disagree with your assertion that PDA's aren't cheap, the Palm Zire retails for around $70. these days. These are robust and durable units, and we have deployed them extensively in the field, the BW screens are perfect for use outdoors. Also with the right software these units are easy to use and synch. We've had good luck on widely deploying the Palm Zire's for data collection, even on a non-profit budget, see http://snowpilot.org/ Just my 2 cents. Mark

Re:ICT4D, handheld solutions

[jselani]

Hi Josef,

I'm the developer of EpiSurveyor. While we've had excellent results in the field with PDAs for almost ten years now, working with the American Red Cross, UNICEF, WHO, and many other organizations, we're now shifting from PDAs (ie, unconnected pocket computers) to cell phones (ie, connected pocket computers). Cell phones, as you may know, are rapidly spreading across the developing world: just about every health worker we come across already has one. I believe that before the end of the year we'll have a version of EpiSurveyor that runs on J2ME platforms. Keep an eye out for updates at www.datadyne.org

Best,

Joel Selanikio

Re:ICT4D, handheld solutions

[evilviper]

PDAs are not cheap

High-end iPaqs aren't cheap... You could put together a low-end PDA for $30, and it would have more than enough power to handle data entry, networking, etc. I still use my B&W 26MHz Psion5mx, and haven't felt the need to get anything higher-end. The dirt cheap "Osaris" works equally well.

Break a PDA and it's an issue (replacement, management making a fuss and having to replace, yadda yadda; you know how it goes)

I'd be more worried about the durability of paper than a PDA.

PDAs require an extra little bit of logistics; charging, synchronization facilities and schedules, etc.

Hardly an issue. Paper needs to be hauled into a central office... Much bigger logistics issues there.

PDA application

[mysterious_mark]

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

History repeats...

[Brickwall]

Over a quarter century ago, I worked with a telecom firm that was developing a low powered satellite PBX that would provide a mini-telephone exchange for use in remote parts of Africa. One of the unintended consequences of providing this technology was an almost immediate rise in prices received for the community's goods. Previously, not knowing what the goods were worth at market in the coastal cities, these communities sold their produce/livestock at bargain prices. After, armed with current coastal market prices, they did a better job of getting near-market prices for their produce.

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.

OK, here it is

[swb]

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).