Academy for Educational Development

POTENTIAL PANDEMIC ALERT SYSTEM?

Washington, D.C., May 27, 2009 —The recent H1N1 outbreak underscored the need for speedy and accurate data-sharing between health workers in remote regions and their national ministries. While such communication alone can’t prevent a pandemic, the lack of it can result in one.

AED is responding to this need with GATHER™, a technology platform designed to address data collection and information-sharing challenges across all development sectors.  GATHER™ is a collection of software programs that work together in one package on cell phones, PDAs, and other mobile computing devices.

GATHER™ is the first and only open-source platform that provides all the tools required to collect, understand, and act on data in real time. When applied to disease surveillance, this can mean saving not only time, but also lives.

“This isn’t just another cell phone application,” said Holly Ladd, vice president and director of the AED-SATELLIFE Center for Health Information and Technology, whose brainchild GATHER ™ is. “It’s a flexible and affordable system that shaves weeks off of data reporting and analysis.”

In a pilot program in Uganda, where Internet access is limited, health workers used the GATHER™ program on cell phones to collect and report weekly disease surveillance information from patients seen at their clinic. The data was immediately uploaded to a national database where it was quickly analyzed to identify any new outbreaks. Data from each health center was automatically consolidated into a district level report and sent back out to health officials, saving weeks of work to get timely information where it was most needed.

In the coming months, GATHER™ will be tested in health-related programs in Bolivia, Mexico, Haiti, and Sri Lanka. It will also be used to assess gaps in the education system in Mali.

Because it is open-source, GATHER™ is intended to reduce the cost barriers that typically render such technology out of reach for small organizations and institutions in developing countries. According to Ladd, AED plans to do a full release of the code upon successful completion of these pilots. AED worked with Open Rosa Consortium and software firm Dimagi to develop GATHER™, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. 

“With half of the world’s population now having access to cell phones, we are leveraging cell networks and the growing number of programmers to expand phones into real tools for development,” Ladd said.

ABOUT AED-SATELLIFE Center for Health Information and Technology:   For nearly 20 years, AED-SATELLIFE has been a leader in developing solutions to the everyday information needs of health professionals working in communities where medical journals and the Internet are an unaffordable luxury. Through innovative applications of information and communication technology, AED-SATELIFE extends the power of knowledge and the promise of better health.

ABOUT AED: AED is a nonprofit organization working globally to improve education, health, social and economic development--the foundation of thriving societies. Focusing on the underserved, AED's worldwide staff of 2,000 implements more than 300 programs serving people in all 50 U.S. states and more than 150 countries.  www.aed.org.

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