Download Combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases
Despite some progress in curbing new infections, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria kill more than
four million people every year, while an estimated one billion people suffer from neglected tropical
diseases such as lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis).
Success in combating these diseases often rests on persuading people to take simple low-tech preventive
measures, such as using condoms or insecticide-treated bednets. The provision of quality information to
those at risk, to patients, to care givers and to health workers and researchers, is fundamental.
For instance, HIV prevention is critical to control the AIDS epidemic, yet less than a third of young men
and less than a fifth of young women in developing countries know how HIV/AIDS is transmitted and how
to prevent infection [Source: MDG Report 2010].
By making customized access to information quick and easy, broadband applications are already helping in
the global fight against disease.
They include:
 Personalized risk assessments for HIV/AIDS through interactive online programs. Many people
may find it easier to answer questions posed by a computer than talk face to face about sensitive
subjects like sex;

Interactive e-learning courses on HIV/AIDS for educators, such as the ones developed by
UNESCO;

Interactive online training and refresher courses for health workers, including video conferencing;

Information-sharing between health professionals on treatment practices, guidelines and so on,
through online discussion forums, bulletin boards and social networking sites;

Continuing professional education. PakMediNet, for example, is an online portal that provides
access to Pakistani medical journals, as well as a searchable drug database.
Combining broadband and the mobile phones that are now widespread in the developing world also has the
potential to transform health service delivery, for example, by expanding schemes now being used in South
Africa to check that AIDS and TB patients are taking their medicines, and to enter and access patient
information.
Broadband Internet can also provide powerful research and surveillance tools to tackle disease more
effectively. In April 2010, the Indian Government’s Open Source Drug Discovery initiative released a
comprehensive mapping of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome, part of an international online
collaborative research effort aimed at accelerating development of badly needed new TB drugs.
And using images from India’s remote sensing satellites, the Malaria Research Centre in New Delhi mapped
areas where a particular malaria-carrying mosquito was likely to be found, based on breeding and lifecycle
patterns. These areas could then be targeted for control measures.
Sophisticated geographical information systems (GIS) are also being used by the South Africa-based
MARA/ARMA project to map malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, where expansion of broadband coverage could
make a huge contribution to the rapid updating and dissemination of life-saving data.