Full Circle Associates

I often wonder how we can extend our imaginations about how a tool can be used. I see mobile phone applications in Africa and other places as leading examples. I wonder, in the US do we lack the imagination or do we lack the need that drives our imaginations? Check this out: Using mobiles to track HIV treatment.

The researchers in South Africa have developed a unique application for mobile phone technology that helps health workers monitor HIV patients cheaply and efficiently. The Cell-Life project, backed by local mobile phone giant Vodacom, has developed software and data management systems that let clinic workers use their mobile phones to monitor patients' treatment and spot health problems before they become life-threatening.

The phones are equipped with a special menu that enables the HIV counsellors to record data on a patient's symptoms and whether they are sticking to drug regimes. Other factors that might affect their health, such as a lack of money to pay for transport to the clinic, or shortage of food, are also monitored. The information collected is instantly relayed over Vodacom's network to a central database, which can be accessed by the clinic staff through a secure Internet connection. "