1. Highest number of HIV+ people in the world
   
   
2. One of the most unequal countries in the world – so most People Living With AIDS do not get adequate treatment & support
   
   
3. 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.