March 23, 2005
Cell phones track bird flu in Cambodia
The man who might save the world from a devastating bird flu pandemic makes $38 a month, reports MSNBC .
"As Cambodia's chief of disease surveillance, Ly Sovann is responsible for spotting the stirrings of an epidemic in a country where the public health and veterinary systems is impoverished.
He heads a team of 10 Cambodian flu hunters struggling to head off an epidemic from their office on the third floor of the Health Ministry.
His epidemic alert system is nothing more than a network of personal cell phones. But through Ly Sovann's wide-ranging contacts and charisma, he has cobbled together a national network of informants. Cambodia is seeking $10,000 from foreign donors to purchase prepaid phone cards to allow local health workers to report on suspicious respiratory cases.
Ly Sovann was promoted to his current post after distinguishing himself by crafting an aggressive national response during the 2003 outbreak in Asia of SARS , or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
That was when Ly Sovann said that he realized he could make use of the country's extensive cell phone coverage."
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