The SMS Reporting Revolution Takes on Ebola, in Sierra Leone

Author(s)
James, J.
Publication language
English
Pages
2pp
Date published
09 Mar 2015
Type
Articles
Keywords
Comms, media & information, Disasters, Epidemics & pandemics, Urban
Countries
Sierra Leone
Organisations
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Link
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sierraleone_81144.html

Getting data quickly has been a key battle in the fight against Ebola, which has caused more than 3,000 confirmed deaths in Sierra Leone since May 2014, according to the National Ebola Response Centre.

That is where the RapidPro free open-source platform comes in, launched globally by UNICEF in September 2014. It isn’t the world’s first mobile phone reporting platform, but it is one that’s remarkably well adapted to the field – easy to set up and usable on pre-existing equipment and phone networks in all but the remotest places.