FrontlineSMS:Medic is a great new initiative aimed to improve health care in the developing world via SMS

This is yet another example how mobile technology is helping improve people’s lives. FrontlineSMS:Medic aims to improve health care in poor, rural villages in the developing world.

First the problem. There is a global shortage of some 4.4 million healthcare professionals, as estimated by the World Health Organization, and many rural health centers in poor regions depend largely on community health workers who travel among clinics and villages. And because these health workers can’t cover all the people who need their attention, some patients remain untreated for far too long.

Enter FrontlineSMS:Medic. Powered by free, open-source software FrontlineSMS, the initiative places a laptop running FrontlineSMS in a central clinic and then distributes cell phones to community health workers. Workers are trained in sending SMS to hospital staff to request treatment instructions, which they receive back as a text message. At the same time, modified camera phones are used to analyze blood and sputum samples and perform critical diagnostics for conditions including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Recently, a 6-month pilot test ended at a hospital in Malawi, and 150 patients received emergency care. Meanwhile, it has been calculated that community health workers saved 1,000 hours of travel time, allowing them to visit more patients and save some cash on fuel costs.

Finally, on the heels of the success of the Malawi pilot, FrontlineSMS:Medic launched numerous other projects throughout Africa and beyond through partnerships with global health organizations. Impressive, don’t you think?

[Via: springwise]