We build software alongside existing open-source tools, including FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, Google Apps, HealthMap and OpenMRS. FrontlineSMS is an SMS platform which enables anyone with a laptop, mobile phone, and GSM signal to manage contacts and coordinate large amounts of incoming and outgoing text messages. It has an extension called FrontlineForms that allows lowend java-enabled cell phones to submit structured forms via text message.
In 2010, Medic Mobile released PatientView, a lightweight patient records system, and TextForms, a text-based information collection module. Most recently, our developers worked on a messaging module for OpenMRS. In addition to adding decision support, auto-categorization, and mapping capabilities, we will be integrating with CelloPhone hardware allowing diagnosis of malaria, tuberculosis, or HIV using a mobile device.
In six months, our pilot in Malawi saved hospital staff 1200 hours of follow-up time and over $3,000 in motorbike fuel. Over 100 patients started TB treatment after their symptoms were noticed by CHWs and reported by text message. The SMS network brought the Home-Based Care unit to the homes of 130 patients who would not have otherwise received care, and texting saved 21 antiretroviral therapy (ART) monitors 900 hours of travel time, eliminating the need to hand deliver paper reports. These results were published in the Technology and Health Care Journal.
Medic Mobile helped coordinate The 4636 Project, an effort to create an emergency
communications channel after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Working with the Office of Innovation at the US Department of State, technology providers, and Haitian mobile operators, a system was created to process text messages expressing urgent needs from the ground. Using crowd-sourced translation, categorization, and geo-tagging, reports were created for first responders within 5 minutes of receiving an SMS. Over 80,000 messages were received in the first six weeks of operation, focusing relief efforts for thousands of Haitians.
In less than one year, Medic Mobile expanded from 75 to 1,500 end users linked to clinics serving approximately 3.5 million patients. Growing from the first pilot at a single hospital in Malawi, we established programs in 40% of Malawi’s district hospitals and implemented projects in nine other countries, including Haiti, Honduras, Uganda, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, India and Bangladesh.
