Vision - November/December 2008 - (Page 36)

THE POWER of PUBLIC-PRIVATE By Timothy E. Wirth s chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications in the late 1970s, I had a unique window on the unfolding telecommunications revolution in the U.S. Today, as president of the United Nations Foundation, I am seeing the next wave of this revolution as telecommunications technology is harnessed in service of global humanitarian and development objectives. The utilization of technology for the greater good reflects the growing ubiquitousness of telecommunications technology, especially wireless communications, as reflected in the more than three billion mobile phones in use worldwide. But the application of technology to humanitarian causes also reflects the powerful emergence of far-sighted corporate leaders and the corporate social responsibility movement. The UN Foundation has emerged as a platform for connecting people, ideas and resources with UN programs and causes Timothy E. Wirth worldwide. Our Technology Partnership with the Vodafone Foundation is transforming the power of mobile technology to support healthcare and disaster relief efforts in even the most remote and resource poor environments to ensure that no humanitarian aid or health worker is unconnected. Technological advances have a key role to play in addressing the myriad challenges to international development and human wellbeing. With the increasing use of mobile PARTNERSHIPS A devices where previously no traditional “wired” environments existed, mobile telecommunications have the potential to help close the digital divide and make significant contributions toward reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Unleashing Technology for Health The Technology Partnership is helping advance health surveillance and achievement of the child and maternal health MDGs. To meet these goals, countries and health officials need up-to-date, accurate public health data. But in many parts of the world, vital and time-sensitive health data is still collected on paper by houseto-house surveys. The process of collecting and entering this information into computers so that it can be aggregated and analyzed can take months or even years. Recognizing that good information is essential to every aspect of public health planning—from disease outbreak response, to priorities setting and program evaluation—the UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation’s Technology Partnership launched a mobile health (mHealth) program in 2006. The program includes close collaboration with the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Ministries of Health in participating countries, and a non-profit group called DataDyne, which has developed the free, open source software. Digitization of health data collection systems is dramatically improving collection from households and rural clinics of data on everything from vaccination rates to the availability of medical supplies. Migrating these processes to mobile devices also is enabling more rapid data collection and improving health policymaking. During pilot testing of our mHealth program, real-time access to health data has enabled officials to track medical supplies and vaccination rates, and inform rapid response to disease outbreaks. This was recently the case in Kenya, where refugees fleeing violence in neighboring Somalia brought the polio virus into the country for the first time in more than 20 years. The Kenyan health ministry used its fledgling mobile health program to evaluate the emergency polio vaccination campaign, generating real-time results that showed where follow-up efforts were needed. In this case, fast access to health data gave the polio virus fewer places to hide and helped prevent life-long infections from a debilitating disease. The application and value of technology for health surveillance is moving rapidly and being replicated in various settings. Last month the Technology Partnership joined with the WHO to expand our health surveillance program to an additional 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is a first step in what we hope will be a broader, global effort using mobile technology to support public health systems in the developing world. Technology for Disaster Relief Another example of how technology is contributing to international development goals can be found in the area of disaster preparedness and relief. Our Technology Partnership with the Vodafone Foundation supports UN’s disaster relief work through partnerships with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and an NGO called Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF), or Telecoms without Borders, which deploys at the UN’s request. As this article goes to press, telecommunications emergency managers from both WFP and TSF are in Haiti to support the international response to the three devastating hurricanes that slammed into the island within the span of a month. The satellite-powered communications centers that WFP and TSF establish in the immediate aftermath of major international disasters provide lifelines that enable relief workers to communicate with one another, www.CE.org 36 November/December 2008 http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - November/December 2008

Vision - November/December 2008 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In this Issue The Economist C4 Trends Going Global Visionary CES Unveiled Eco-Intelligence Is Vital in a Sustainable Global Market XGP— A Game Changer Enhancing the Tech Experience High-Definition Decade Public-Private Partnerships CEA Newsline Tech Speak Tech Policy Eye on Business Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - November/December 2008

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