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Colleagues,

Please find below a useful posting from the always informative Dana Blackenhorn, of ZDNet Healthcare ...

... It is a little dated, but in the continuing quest to secure the 3Cs of "Content, Community & Collaboration," it delivers a powerful message on how to apply the right technology, to the right problem, and get tangible results under difficult circumstances ...

ENJOY!

CC
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The SMS for Life program to combat malaria was launched with great fanfare in December by IBM, Vodafone and Novartis.

(Tanzania map from Wikipedia.)

... The concept was simple, to use SMS messaging to improve the management of malaria drug stocks in remote villages...

...An automated SMS goes out each week reminding clinics to take inventory, and the results are sent, also using SMS, to a central database from which re-orders can be stocked...

... Results are even better than anticipated:

  • The chance of running of of vital malaria treatments was cut three fold.
  • In one area, Lindi Rural, stock-outs were completely eliminated in eight weeks. At the start of the project 57% of clinics were routinely out of stock. Other districts also cut stock-out rates in half.
  • A half-day training session for health workers resulted in a 95% response rate to the text messages.


... IBM has already capitalized on this success, signing a deal with the Tanzanian government covering IT in schools and research facilities throughout the country. Tanzania is talking up the idea of a “Silicon Valley” environment around its three year old  University of Dodoma, which is in the center of the country...


Read on at: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/healthcare/sms-for-life-results-have-tanz...

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