Cell-Life has started a project to use cellphone to support the millions of people infected or affected by HIV in South Africa. Cell-Life has received funding for this from the Vodacom Foundation and the RAITH Foundation (nothing to do with Matthias Rath).
Over the next three years we will develop a cellphone-based system that will address the needs of the HIV community in SA. The issues are much more social than technical. We have funding to develop a technical system using SMS, chat systems (e.g. like MXIT using GPRS) and we will experiment with voice, downloadable games, web-type and even video. The technical choices will be based on what is widely useful to individuals and organisations, given levels of awareness, literacy, language usage, finance, and types of cellphones. We aim to develop a system that is free to the end-user. There will be a great deal of research and investigation of what information is useful to support action for the multi-faceted HIV community.
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Three facts about South Africa:
- Highest number of HIV+ people in the world
- One of the most unequal countries in the world – so most People Living With AIDS do not get adequate treatment & support
- Best
technical infrastructure in Africa, especially large cellphone usage.
The industry estimates there are around 30 million active cellphone
users (in a population of 47 million).
There is a massive potential to use cellphones to directly provide communications & info services to People Living With HIV
In SA, there are millions of people infected or affected by HIV with
interest in more information about HIV & AIDS. There is a great
demand for information – and many organisations working to provide it.
However many people in disadvantaged areas cannot access useful
information – and cellphone offer a great potential as a mechanism to
provide interactive communication and information services to millions.
A range of technologies are possible: we would like the system to be
able to be used however people can use their cellphone. We will
endeavour to make the system free to the end-user. SMS will definitely
be used, as will the chat-type systems (such as MXIT using GPRS). We
will experiment with voice, cellphone games, video and more.
The system can be used to receive information, to interact with in an
organisation, peer-to-peer communication, ‘social networking’ and more
applications. The issue is less the technology than the social usage –
how best can we use the tool of cellphones to support the
self-organisation, treatment, education and action of the HIV-affected
community in South Africa?
We have received funding for a three year project to
develop cellphone tools to provide information & communication
services for the millions infected or affected by HIV. The funding
comes from the Vodacom Foundation and a SA family trust.
Over the first year of the project, we will set up a
steering committee from organisations active in the field; conduct
needs analysis on the different needs for such a system; develop a
trial system; research useful information and work with partners to
provide accessible content; and run pilots in two communities.
In the second year we will revise the system, set up wider
support structures and run the system in other provinces. By the third
year we hope to have a widespread rollout of the system in SA, with
millions of users. We are looking for partners in this project, and if
you are interested to know more please contact us. Our contact details
can be found here.
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