Cambodia Fights Malaria with Text Messages

Cambodia is trying to contain the spread of malaria by using text messaging to report the disease in real time. Mobile devices are installed with "FrontlineSMS," an open-source software, allowing volunteers to send and receive malaria reports via text. The data is sent to the Malaria Information and Alert System in Phnom Penh and fed into a national database using Google Earth.

Mobitel, Cambodia's largest telecom, provides free SIM cards and SMSs, making the system cost-effective and easy to maintain. "My work is definitely easier," said Sophana Pich, one of the estimated 3,000 village workers in the country's fight against malaria. Before mobile phones were part of the program, she said it took a month before the information gathered arrived at the district health level...