SMS

The following post is by Lukas Biewald, originally published on CrowdFlower's blog and reposted with his permission.  Lukas is the founder and CEO of Dolores Labs and CrowdFlower, a crowdsourcing technology and resource.

Image source: Ushahidi

Friday night I was getting ready to spend the weekend working on my board meeting slides when my friend Ian Monroe came by the office and told me to talk to Robert Munro. Robert is a computational linguist who does research on large scale processing of text messages — an obscure subject until the earthquake in Haiti happened two weeks ago.Robert had been working with Josh Nesbit, cofounder of FrontLineSMS:Medic, an awesome NGO dedicated to building SMS based communication infrastructure for people in the developing world.

Text to Change (TTC), a non-profit organization in Africa, has been using mobile technology for health education since 2008. TTC has been running a fun, innovative and practical HIV/AIDS education program in three countries -- Uganda, Kenya and Namibia. This program not only educates participants about AIDS but also encourages infected patients to seek medical help and adhere to medication.

Process: TTC runs a six week SMS based quiz program with participants receiving 3 questions per week. The quiz participants answer via sending a free text message. The correct answer is acknowledged with additional information on the topic and the wrong one by an explanation about the correct answer. Detailed information on weekly quiz issues are also put up in a local newspaper and on the TTC website. At the end of the program, participants visit a Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centre where they are provided with free HIV/AIDS counselling and testing. Participants answering correctly also have an opportunity to win prizes such as mobile phones and air time.



A similar SMS based model can be used effectively to educate people about other diseases and in providing information on general health related issues such as sanitation.

Photo taken from the Text to Change website.

After just two episodes, we're thrilled to say that the AshokaTECH Podcast has been selected by The School for Social Entrepreneurs blog as a "Top 10 Podcast for Social Entrepreneurs!"  Thanks so much -- we're honored to be included among other great shows.

This week's episode of the AshokaTECH Podcast features an interview with Ghanaian social entrepreneur Bright Simons who leverages mobile technology and SMS messages to help improve health and safety in West Africa. Bright sits down with host Alex Budak, as they discuss his work at the intersection of public health and technology, as well as the promise that mobile telephones hold for African development. 

As always, be sure to follow Alex on Twitter, @TheBudak, for updates on the podcast and your chance to have your own questions answered in future interviews.

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