Storm warnings on Lake Victoria

Telecoms giants Zain and Ericsson have joined together in East Africa in an initiative that is being coordinated by the GSM Association. This partnership has brought development across the Lake Victoria region by providing increased mobile network coverage to the countries that border the lake – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – and launching a safety and security initiative that will benefit the fishermen who rely on the lake for their livelihood.

The coverage of Lake Victoria allows both voice and SMS communication. This has been touted as a catalyst for the economic and social development of the lakeside communities, and could potentially reduce the number of fishing-related deaths by providing timely warnings of the approach of storms, which can arrive rapidly out on the water and have devastating effects. Zain has developed value-added services that will enable fishermen on the lake to access critical information such as fish and commodity prices, and to receive weather and safety alerts. The expanded network will also make it possible to collect data on daily catch from the more than 1,400 Beach Management Units on the lake’s shore.

Lars Linden, President of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says: “Mobile communications play an important role in helping communities to develop sustainably. Building out the mobile networks in this region is a key business interest for Ericsson, but it will also play a vital role in delivering increased safety and security, as well as improved economic viability and livelihoods.
“If we can reduce the figure of more than 5,000 deaths each year, even by one, it will be worth the investment,” he concludes.

HIV patients get the message

SMS technology is being used in South Africa to solve one of the most pressing problems facing the healthcare sector: ensuring people get the treatment they need.
Healthcare has advanced remarkably in recent years, especially in the area of HIV/AIDS, but the delivery of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) has been problematic on the continent where the majority of those affected live.

Now Right to Care, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides access to ART for patients who can’t afford it, has embraced digital technology at the Themba Lethu Clinic at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg. Right to Care has led the use of Therapy Edge, a software tool specific to HIV disease management. In 2007, in partnership with technology developers Praekelt Foundation, it launched TxtAlert, a service that sends SMS messages to remind patients of clinic visits and alert them of their laboratory results.

The initiative has been a huge success; missed appointments have dropped from 30% to 4% and lost-to-follow-ups (the proportion of new patients who fail to return) have fallen from 27% to 4%. More than 100,000 HIV patients now use TxtAlert.

The next phase of the project will monitor treatment adherence. A pilot project was due to begin in January, with 100 patients using an electronic medication monitoring device that tracks the opening and closing of medicine bottles.
 

The power of the sun

The launch in 2009 of solar-powered cellphones by companies such as Samsung and ZTE will have been especially welcome in Africa, where electricity remains a pipedream to millions living in rural areas. The GSMA estimates that there are 485 million cellphone users worldwide who don’t have access to the electricity grid, and those in Africa generally have no choice but to travel to the nearest town and pay a broker to charge their cellphone when they run out of battery power.

Samsung’s first commercially available low-cost solar-powered phone is the E1107 Crest Solar. The handset has an 800mAh battery that can be charged by electricity, as well as through the solar panel on the back of the case. One hour under the sun can provide five to 10 minutes of talk-time (ideal for emergencies) and it takes eight hours to charge the phone fully. ZTE’s Coral-200 Solar works in a similar way and has been a big hit in Tanzania, where it was launched last autumn.

Solar-powered phones are a green technology, too, using a renewable, natural energy source. Indeed, the Coral-200 is even made from recycled materials. With rural areas in developing countries likely to be a key growth area for the cellphone market in the coming years, the spread of solar-powered phones should help to ensure that everyone wins: the consumer (who can charge their phone for free), the mobile networks (who gain new customers) and, last but not least, the environment.