Mobile phone technology to speed up malaria fight

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is yet to benefit from mobile phone technology in the fight against malaria. Handsets, which were previously used for only calling and sending short text messages, are now used in improving the quality of life socially and economically.

Many African countries, including Tanzania, are still struggling to bridge the information gap caused by a number of factors, including lack of information dissemination infrastructure.

Recently, the Vice President, Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal, launched a special campaign, M-Zinduka (M-Zinduka), that aims at building capacity in the fight against malaria through the use of mobile phones.

This is another breakthrough in Tanzania. Areas, which were geographically impossible to reach due to lack of passable roads or transport means will now be reached.

M-Zinduka is an interactive mobile application, developed by Vodacom Tanzania to fight against malaria through sending short messages (SMS) to community members on how to prevent malaria infection and treat the deadly disease without delay in case one is infected.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign in Dar es Salaam, Dr Bilal said Tanzanians needed to embrace mobile phone technology in the fight against malaria, a disease that has, in the past claimed, the lives of many people.

“I’m very glad and I would like to assure you that the government is supporting this campaign and it is our hope that this initiative will play an important role in complementing government efforts to end malaria in the country,” said Dr Bilal. M-Zinduka aims at increasing the pace of getting information on malaria as the country strives to achieve a malaria-free nation by 2015.

“The government, in partnership with other stakeholders, is keen on eradicating malaria infection in this country. One of the ways of doing so is by engaging citizens and educating them on various prevention and treatment methods, so we must utilise this technology,” said Dr Bilal.

The campaign, which is initiated by Vodacom Foundation, Malaria No More and the Tanzania House of Talents (THT), intends to use infotainment to educate members of the public on how to fight against malaria through SMS in their handsets.

For his part, Dr Hussein Mwinyi, the minister For Health and Social Welfare, highlighted that due to continued public education and campaigns against malaria in the country, 92 per cent of the community members knew how to protect themselves from the deadly disease.

“We are thankful to all stakeholders who have tirelessly, in collaboration with the ministry of Health and Social Welfare, supported numerous programmes and campaigns against malaria. It is clear that the government alone cannot manage to eradicate this disease,” said Dr Mwinyi. The minister said according to the Tanzania HIV/Aids and Malaria Indicator Survey (THMIS), in the past five years, malaria infection cases had decreased by more than 50 per cent from 18 per cent in 2007/08 to nine per cent in 2011/12. “We believe that with the launch of this campaign, Tanzanians will benefit a lot in terms of good health.

A healthy society is a productive society, and Vodacom Foundation is committed to ensuring that Tanzanians remain healthy,” said Mr Mwakifulefule, the head of Vodacom Foundation.

Mr Mwakifulefule noted that for citizens to get information on prevention and treatment methods, they should subscribe the service by sending a word ‘Malaria’ to 15760 for free, which will enable them to get all important information on the disease.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of the population with access to an insecticide-treated bed nets remained well under 50 per cent in 2013. Only 70 million new bed nets were delivered to malaria-endemic countries in 2012, below the 150 million minimum needed every year .