Blog 7: How Cellphones Helped Researchers Track Malaria In Kenya

The Harvard School of Public Heath is conducting research on how to track the spread of Malaria by looking at phone records. A similar research project was done to study the spread of Cholera in Haiti by tracking phone data. This information was used to see where the doctors would be able to treat the most people in the most effective manner. The researchers thought that the most outbreaks due to spread would be around the coast that the lake regions. However, there were not as many outbreaks in the coastal regions and there was data that suggested mosquitoes adapting to the cities. Mosquitoes are not normally located in the cities and are highly populated in rural areas. This proposes a difficulty people the people in Kenya travel a lot from rural to urban areas. The hope of this data is to show that the travel of people can mark the treatment center and to inform the people of when they enter these high risk areas by text message.

                I believe that this will be very beneficial to those living in high risk malaria areas. The people in these areas will know when to be on alert and to stay protected. This research let us use our technology to save lives and keep people informed of their surroundings. I was actually shocked when the researchers discovered that the most highly traveled areas were the ones that had the least amount of malaria spreading. It does make since that the mosquitoes would be located in the mostly rural areas because the city does not allow them an environment to survive in.  However, it is scary that the mosquitoes are now beginning to adapt to living in the megacities which can lead to an increase in the spread and number of people affected.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/10/162643881/how-cellphones-helped-researchers-track-malaria-in-kenya