South African software developers are showing UN officials how their technology can help tackle global health problems.
Andi Friedman, CEO and founder of Mobenzi, a Cape Town company that has developed a health platform for mobile devices, said last week on Twitter: "Headed to NY to share our work in mobile health with some of the most influential people on earth at the UN General Assembly. Pinch me."
The Mobenzi app enables researchers and community health workers to use a cellphone to both access and upload health-related data even in remote areas.
The results of health-related surveys can be stored on a cheap cellphone and uploaded to a database in real time at very low cost. The technology is already being used in 30 countries.
Mobenzi has teamed up with cellular service provider MTN, cellphone maker Samsung and the global industry body for cellular network operators to create the Smart Health platform.
Friedman said: "It's very difficult for every NGO to approach cellular companies to get the free or inexpensive airtime needed for research, to find reasonably priced handsets, and to develop technology for use in research."
Smart Health will offer handsets, technology, cheap data and connections.
Friedman said Smart Health was demonstrating to representatives of the World Health Organisation how "software developed here in South Africa can be mobilised for global health priorities".
The presentations show how phones could be given to health workers and information on Ebola sent to them.
Health workers tracking people who have had contact with Ebola victims would be able to upload their findings.
Doctors could view lab results, check symptom lists and report new cases.
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