IBM has joined the fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa with a computer system that people can use to report issues and concerns involving the health crisis.
The tracking system is a result of the Armonk, NY-based company's collaboration with Sierra Leone's Open Government Initiative, according to PC Magazine. The firm is also working with Cambridge University's Africa Voices project, telco company Airtel, and Kenya-based Echo Mobile on ways to keep the disease from spreading.
Khadija Sesay, director of Open Government Initiative, said the government and the people in Sierra Leone need to be able to communicate with each other in order to combat this health crisis.
"IBM has enhanced our work on citizen engagement through the use of innovative technology, and opened up an effective communication channel with the general public so that we can learn from their input and create actionable policies in the fight against Ebola," Sesay said.
Citizens will be able to use location-specific SMS and voice calls to provide information about Ebola that other people should have, BBC News reported.
The system has already helped find areas with growing numbers of suspected Ebola cases so officials can deliver electricity, soap and other important supplies more efficiently.
"We saw the need to quickly develop a system to enable communities directly affected by Ebola to provide valuable insight about how to fight it," said Dr. Uyi Stewart, chief scientist of IBM Research in Africa. "Using mobile technology, we have given them a voice and a channel to communicate their experiences directly to the government."
Nigeria, which has recently been declared Ebola-free, is working with IBM to make sure the country is ready for outbreaks in the future, PC Magazine reported. However, the virus still needs to be contained, and IBM is collecting data from around the world to create a cloud-based Ebola Open Date Repository that will give governments and aid agencies free and open access to Ebola-related data.
