SMS or texting "till you drop" in Uganda
For people in Malawi, as in many developing countries, mobile phones are often the sole source of communication where there is limited access to fixed-line telephones or computers with an Internet connection. A UN report out in 2007 said that 64 percent of mobile phone users are in developing countries. Mobile phones are changing the way people live and have the power to change healthcare delivery.
The report Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use, released by the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation, states that 74% of NGO workers can now reach audiences they could not previously reach.
In Josh Nesbit’s presentation yesterday at the mHealth Summit in Washington, D.C. he spoke about how his company’s free, open source software, FrontlineSMS, transforms a laptop and a mobile phone into a communication system, through text messaging. And, unlike similar software on the market, no Internet connection is needed. Its Mobiles in Malawi project connects community health workers and their patients with hospitals, replacing paper trails often marked by errors.
NGOs are using SMS (short message service, better known as text messaging) in programs around the globe. See this FrontlineSMS world map to get a glimpse of the program’s reach.
Two free reports, mHealth for Developmentfrom the UN Foundation and Vodaphone Foundation (which showcases 44 projects); and Mobile Phones: an Appropriate Tool for Conservation and Development shed light on the opportunities for mobile technology in international development.
Parents who worry about their U.S. teenagers texting an average of 80 messages a day–take heart. They may be just busy building skills for 21 Century careers if their thumbs hold out to adulthood!
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