Kenya Vets Turn to Mobile to Monitor Disease
- Sunday, August 15th, 2010
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Maasai vets in rural Kenya have been using Google’s G1 Android phone to monitor diseases in E. Africa. So far, data relating to more than 86,000 animals from 1,600 farms has already been logged via the mobile phones.
Google staff in the UK donated 23 G1 Android devices to Massai vets for the project in rural Kenya, which is led by Vetaid, a charity founded and backed by a team including members of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and other London-based academics.
The vets use the phone’s Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities to record and monitor how diseases such as anthrax are spreading, in an attempt to bolster preventive action, such as vaccination campaigns.
Dr Gabriel Turasha, a Maasai vet and the regional coordinator for Vetaid in E. Africa, is leading the surveillance teams. He says: “The mobile phones are really improving real time access to information. You can send a message to report an outbreak. There is better communication, and their role in today’s society is very crucial.”
His colleague Dr Ezra Saitoti, a Maasai vet working in Kenya for Vetaid, says: “We are very optimistic that we can contain further spread of these diseases. If you can pinpoint the location of the problem, and we are able to do that with the phones, you will be able to come up with a proper solution.”
The project is a collaboration between Vetaid, the RVC, Imperial College London, the Institute of Education, and the London International Development Centre (LIDC). It used mobile data collection software called relies EpiCollect that was developed by researchers from Imperial College London. This is pre-loaded on the devices, and enables the vets to upload their findings to a central website, helping vets and farmers develop a much clearer picture of the diseases affecting their animals.
Dr David Aanensen, one of the Imperial College researchers behind EpiCollect says: “We’re really excited that our software is being put to such good use in E. Africa. We hope our tool will help the vets and farmers get a much clearer picture of the diseases that are affecting their animals. Ultimately, this should make it easier for them to treat these diseases – either directly or through vaccination – and to target resources where they are most needed.”
There’s more information about the project here.