SMS service to access disease data

Harshini PERERA

An SMS service through mobile phones was introduced to access data of non-communicable and communicable diseases which will enable the authorities to get quick information and work on them accordingly.

The Real Time Bio-surveillance Program was conducted as a pilot project in Kurunegala district and was also conducted in Tamil Nadu at the same time. The project which is being conducted in collaboration with partners such as International Development Research Centre, Canada, LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka, Lanka Jathika Sarovodaya Shramadana Society, Carnegie Mellon University Auton Lab and University of Alberta has an investment of US $ 350,000.

"This is the first time such a project was initiated in the Asian region to make the authorities and public aware about diseases through mobile technology. We will be using Java technology and have estimated that the monthly cost to run such a similar project will be around US$ 12,000 per district," LIRNEasia, Project Director and Senior Researcher Nuwan Waidyanatha said.

The data collected from the patients will be immediately transferred through a mobile SMS to the public Health Inspector in the area.

The PHIs will in turn alert the authorities at the Epidemiological Unit in Colombo. This will be a cost effective and efficient way of data transferring which will address the urgent need in the Health sector.

Trained Sarovodya volunteers are helping process the data for this project.