Cell Phones Fight Cholera in Haiti

Cell phones are being used in the fight against cholera in Haiti, highlighting the power of mobile technology to help combat contagious diseases.

Community health workers, or CHWs, last month began using specially-programmed Nokia cell phones to track information about cholera infections in Haiti's Central Plateau. Thousands of Haitians in isolated mountain communities have gotten sick from cholera since June, and the infection rate is steadily rising since the fall rainy season began.

Tracking and reporting new cholera cases quickly is critical to treatment and prevention efforts, especially considering cholera is highly contagious and can kill within 24 hours of infection.

Since the 2010 earthquake, parts of Haiti's population have been homeless or migratory, possibly adding to the spread of infectious diseases like cholera. Understanding where new infections are occurring may help aid workers get help where it's needed and strengthen public health prevention initiatives.

Before the cell phone reporting program started, CHWs often had to walk six or more hours to submit weekly cholera reports from outlying areas, losing crucial time in a fight where every second counts.

The new program reflects other public health efforts using mobile technology to combat the spread of deadly disease and improve response efforts.

A government program in Cambodia uses text messages to report malaria outbreaks in real time. And in Haiti, tracking earthquake victims via cell phone location data helped aid workers target emergency supplies and services.

The cell phone cholera program builds on the technology that helped earthquake victims get the aid they needed. It uses Haitian Creole prompts to allow CHWs to record data about soap, medication, bleach and oral rehydration solution needs. It also asks for data about numbers of cholera cases, how many patients made it to the nearest treatment center and number of deaths.

"We need accurate and up-to-date reports in order to best prevent more cases and respond to quick spread of the epidemic," said Cate Oswald, Haiti-based coordinator for health advocacy organization, Partners In Health, which runs the cell phone program.

"It is our hope that this project will help us have better access to incredibly important community data and will help us know which communities need extra support at any given moment," she added.

As health workers continue to fight cholera amid continuing earthquake recovery in Haiti, having a cell phone in hand may help reduce the number of deaths from the disease.