Back to Index

Cell-Life: Using Mobile Technology to Prevent and Treat HIV/AIDS in South Africa
AF-AIDS
July 24, 2007

http://eforums.healthdev.org/read/messages?id=18060

In South Africa, Cell-Life has developed open-source software solutions that enable medical professionals and caregivers to monitor patients receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS through transmitting vital information via mobile phone.

An estimated 5.5 million people, or one in five South Africans, is HIV-positive, with up to 600 people dying each day from HIV/AIDS related illnesses. An estimated 220,000 of the nation's citizens are currently accessing free anti-viral treatment (ARV) for the disease. Due to logistical and other challenges (e.g., severe side effects associated with some medications), many have difficulty obtaining medical assistance to monitor and modify their treatment.

Started by professors at the University of Cape Town and Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cell-Life has developed technology-based solutions to improve treatment for those with HIV/AIDS, and prevent the disease's spread. The "e-health" company capitalizes on the fact that up to 60 percent of South Africa's population uses mobile phones, with mobile networks covering 94 percent of the country.

One Cell-Life initiative allows doctors and caregivers to monitor patients receiving ARV treatment and identify problems before they become life threatening. Vital patient information (e.g., patient symptoms, medications, dosage, dietary concerns, and other health information) is recorded using a cell phone equipped with a special menu that allows it to capture specific data. The information is transferred via SMS to an information database, with doctors and/or nurses accessing the database over a secure connection.

Whereas as in the past it could have taken weeks, or even months, for health care professionals to retrieve patient data collected in remote locations by hand, now steps can be taken immediately to improve a patient's status. In the event of emergencies, doctors can also be automatically contacted via SMS. To protect patient confidentiality, the database stores information according to unique patient numbers, and is password-protected.

Through another initiative, developed in cooperation with the Academy for Educational Development, Cell-Life has engaged representatives from up to 10,000 schools to report on the number of HIV peer education sessions that take place. The school representatives send a simple SMS to Cell-Life, which consolidates the information in a database designed to monitor HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.

Cell-Life, which works in partnership with the Vodacom Foundation among others, is currently developing an aggregated reporting capability that will allow it to generate key findings from its central database for use by government officials and/or funders. The applications developed also allow for numerous other cell phone solutions to be developed which is very important in the context specific public health sector.

How it was done

Cell-Life belives that flexibility and scalability are very important in the resource limited, context-specific settings of South Africa. The organisation has developed a wide range of skills using a variety of cell phone technologies from which it develops solutions as they are needed. The latest project includes the development of a laboratory module (used to transfer HIV/TB lab results from testing station to remote clinics) through mobile technology.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP