[UgaBYTES] Evidence | TV & Phone key in fighting malaria

[Peter Burgess]

Dear Colleagues

I thonk some of you know, I have been interested in malaria for some
time. The malaria inndustry has increased its funding from around $100
million a year to more tha $1 billion last year and the expectation is
that it will be higher in the future.

That ought to be good news. But sadly the vast bulk of the spending is
doing rather little to actual decrease the burden of malaria for real
people with real lives in real places.

I am for education ... and I am for the acquisiton of knowledge ...
and I am for studies and analysis that helps to improve performance
... but sadly. what I observe is all of these thigs going on ... money
being spent, and very little improvement in performance that can be
(1) identified and (2) verified.

I am becoming increasingly aware that the malaria strategy that has
been implemented over the last few years is costing a lot, and
reducting the burden of malaria rather modestly. Maybe the upcoming
WHO report will show something else ... but the interim information I
have see suggests that if the money had been spet on IRS rather than
bednets.. there might well have been three times the progress ...
maybe 10 times the progress, if it had been combined with better
community level management of the efforts.

I am an advocate for good managemet information ... this ICN study
does not fit into my idea of somethig very useful. Having said that
... I do see a opportunity for telecenters and ICT to be used to flow
data that are important for the management of malaria control
resources and in my own work I am looking to do just this. One of the
tools we are working toeards is FrontlineSMS to serve as the first
link in the dataflow chain.

If anyone would like to learn more of this, please let me know.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess
___________
Peter Burgess
The Transparency and Accountability Network: Tr-Ac-Net in New York
www.tr-ac-net.org
Community Accountancy
Integrated Malaria Management Consortium (IMMC)
917 432 1191 or 212 772 6918 peterbnyc at gmail.com
////////////////////////////
On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 12:33 PM, Meddie Mayanja <mmayanja at idrc.ca> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> This study might be of interest to you. It suggests the information and
> communication networks have a significant impact to fighting malaria. The
> study uses telephone density and TV density as two major ICN variables to
> investigate its impact in reducing malaria deaths. The cross country
> analysis shows that the ICN density as measured by the telephones and TV
> sets per 1,000 people has a significant correlation with reduced probability
> of malaria deaths. Telephones, an inter-personal means of communication,
> connects individuals to a bigger social network and facilitates rapid
> diagnosis and treatment, whereas TV, a mass media communication means, can
> provide disease awareness among the population, encourage people to adopt
> healthy behaviour and communicate risk mitigation measures. Read more from
> here: http://www.malariajournal.com/content/6/1/136#B5
>
> In preventing malaria, ICN may not have a direct impact similar to malaria
> drugs but it can certainly increase the effectiveness of the intervention
> strategies and resources indirectly. ICN can speed up the delivery of
> services and provide access to crucial health information. Access to
> information and knowledge allows the community members to participate in
> opportunities and activities related to their own development.
> There have been concerns raised by researchers that more availability of
> telephone lines and Internet connections will not address the fundamental
> problems in developing countries which arise mainly because of unequal
> distribution of wealth and inequitable access to technology.
>
> A successful effort of malaria prevention would have to promote access of
> ICN facilities to the disadvantaged and deprived classes in the society.
> Recently there have been some exciting innovations to address the needs of
> the disadvantaged groups in the society. For instance, the cellular phone
> operations by Grameen Telecom (GTC) in Bangladesh, where telephone density
> is one of the lowest in the world, has become a very successful venture.
> Another initiative, Grameen Communications (GC) has developed a number of
> multipurpose tele-centers in the rural areas that provide villagers access
> to information, communication, services and education relating to
> information technology.
>
> Best, Meddie
>
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