How a Mobile App Helped in Fighting Ebola in Africa

Technology has come a long way, sometimes I wonder what the world will be without it. An app called About Ebola, was built using a programming platform developed in Israel and abroad. This app is providing medical workers in the field with what is turning out to be one of their most effective tools available for preventing the alarming spread of Ebola in the villages of in West Africa. Using the Snapp platform, it took volunteers only about three days to build a mobile app that provides information on what Ebola is, what to do if symptoms associated with Ebola appear, and how to avoid catching it in the first place.

Conservative estimates say about 6,000 people have been infected with the virulent disease, and predictions of its spread quote numbers of 1.4 million and more. The death rate is at least 50 percent. Basic knowledge and practice of hygiene can stop its spread, experts say.

The new app can help with that. So far, About Ebola (available for iOS and Android) has been downloaded about 5,000 times by residents of affected areas – meaning that word is filtering down to the villages about how to prevent the spread of Ebola. In fact, said Kindler, About Ebola is the first Android app in the Jola (also known as Diola) language, which is spoken by at least a half million people.

 

“Because of this app, Google is now in the process of recognizing Jola as an official language and is opening up its Android app store to include apps using Jola,”

“Communicating with villagers in their own language and getting the message out is half the battle”, said Kindler of Snapp Platform.

“In almost all these villages there are at least one or two people with smartphones, and they are very highly regarded, both for their ability to access information from the outside world, and for their acumen in acquiring a device in the first place. So when they tell villagers that they should be doing a lot of washing with soap and water – one of the methods the app lists as a way to prevent Ebola – the villagers are likely to listen.”

The About Ebola app was developed by a group associated with Singularity University, an international group that marshals technology to solve social, health, and other problems in the developing world.