Africa is Saving Lives By Turning Mobile Phones into Hospitals

Yusuf Ibrahim's computer screen is awash with colourful maps and charts. From his desk in downtown Nairobi, Ibrahim can track outbreaks of deadly diseases and keep on eye on the progress of potentially tricky pregnancies. "With the touch of a button I can see what's going on across the country in real-time," Ibrahim said. "It is amazing."

Ibrahim's computer is collecting vital health and epidemiological data from hundreds of miles away via travelling healthworkers with mobile phones.

"It used to take days, weeks or even a couple of months to find out about an outbreak of Polio on the other side of the country. Now we know almost instantly. The speed with which we can now collect information has catapulted healthcare and prevention to another level," he said. "It has completely change healthcare and saved countless lives."

Ibrahim says Kenya's mobile phone data collection system, which has been rolled out to six other African countries, is "probably better than what they've got in the West".

"Although we are a Third World country, I'm pretty sure we've done this before Western countries. While they [Western countries] are still collecting information in hard copy on clipboards, we are getting it instantly."

Kenya's Data Dyne system is just one example of hundreds of innovative mobile phone-based projects that are helping to improve healthcare in Africa. Today's mobiles are filled with so much state-of-the-art technology they are being used as walking, talking field hospitals.

Mobile phone manufacturers, networks and software developers have joined forces with the United Nations to place the mobile at the heart of a multi-million pound drive to tackle HIV/AIDS, malaria and deaths during childbirth.

Kathy Calvin, chief executive of the United Nations Foundation (UNF), said mobiles have the potential to have as big an impact on global healthcare as Sir Alexander Fleming's 1928 discovery of penicillin.