2016 ICT4D Conference

Just sixty five years ago malaria was a major problem in the United States. Massive spraying campaigns and expensive infrastructure investments eliminated this long standing problem in just a few years. In Zanzibar and many other places suffering from malaria, these same expensive approaches have been used and success achieved in the short term, only to have funding disappear and malaria incidence quickly return to endemic levels. In places where medicine and information move slowly over big distances and rough roads, malaria, flying along in mosquitoes and migrant workers quickly outpaces all but the best funded efforts to keep it from spreading.

Yet, technology brings hope. Mobile phone signals travel even faster than mosquitoes. Capturing data about malaria cases from health clinics via interactive SMS and then quickly sending health workers with GPS equipped tablets to map and then treat infected households and their neighbors is proving to be a cost-effective way to keep malaria cases from spreading. In Zanzibar, twenty health workers equipped with inexpensive tablets and a motorbike are keeping malaria incidence at around 3% - a steady and sustained decrease from more than 80% just 15 years ago.

This approach is working in Zanzibar. Can it work in places that aren't islands? Can it work with other diseases? How can timely information help address other challenges in public health, education and governance?