January 14, 2009
MALAWI: SMS to fight malnutrition
For the first time in years, John Phiri, a health extension worker in Malawi's central Salima district, does not have to fill in a stack of forms during his monthly round of collecting data to monitor nutrition levels in the community. IRIN reports.
Now he whips out his mobile phone and texts the data, including the height and weight of the children in the area, while covering his beat. The information is immediately captured by a computer that stores the national nutritional and food-security statistics in Lilongwe, the capital.
... The RapidSMS system, as it is called, is on a four-month trial run that began in January 2009 in three districts of Malawi's Central Province. The SMS (short message service) text message and web-based tool was developed by the Innovations and Development team of UNICEF, the UN children's agency, and allows text messages to be captured via the internet.
''The quick collection and availability of data can help government and other aid agencies intervene if the statistics show a crisis is unfolding''.
Besides the obvious advantage of speed and quality of data, the system also creates spreadsheets and graphs, allowing for easy interpretation of the data.
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