Kenyan researchers are advocating for the use of the mobile phone to help fight diseases like malaria and malnutrition in Africa.
Dr Dejan Zurovac of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) said that the mobile phone can be used to improve the quality of medical care patients receive in the continent.
"A simple intervention like a text-message through SMS can substantially improve the quality of care patients receive," he said in a statement released from Kemri on Thursday in Nairobi.
Zurovac noted that diseases like malaria are still killing many people in Africa thus people should change ways of combating them.
The doctor observed that the mobile phone has penetrated in most parts of Africa, including the remotest which makes it easier for health officers to use it.
In Kenya as in many other African countries, the mobile phone has become the tool of choice of communication for many people.
It is estimated that about 20 million people in the East African nation use or get access to a mobile phone.
On the other hand, each year, there are about 250 million new cases of malaria infection across the world, most of them in Africa. Of these cases, about 800,000 people die, most of them are children.
According to the researcher, text-messages with information on diseases can be sent to health workers, particularly those in remote areas on how to take care of patients. They will then pass the information to patients.
The workers can also be reminded to attend to patients through their mobile phones.
Similarly, patients can also be informed of how to take, for instance, malaria drugs to prevent death.
"The method should complement traditional approaches to support clinical management such as health worker training, and supervision," said Zurovac who was commending on a new research done by Kemri on how mobile phone can be used to better people's health.
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