Technology has been helping tackle the effects of Ebola, and while it’s not a straightforward solution, it can have a huge impact if developed through collaboration, information sharing and forward thinking to post-crisis time, Francesca Ferrario said in a story she wrote in SocialStory.

Ebola is making fewer headlines these days, Ferrario said, but it is still a sad and ongoing reality. Countries with poor medical infrastructure are at higher risk of contamination. Ferrario considered the way technology helped tackle the effects of the virus, and possible avenues to maximize the technological impact.

From SocialStory.

Code Innovation

Elie Canure, from the West-African based technology company Code Innovation, wrote that many hackathons have been organized to implement tech solutions for people affected by the virus. However, interactions among them are extremely limited. Coordination and exchange of information are the first fundamental steps toward building viable solutions in cases of emergency. Failing to acknowledge this suggests inability to understand the problem from the point of view of the victims, who want effective support regardless of where it comes from.

Code Innovation sent an open Ebola Hackathon Index to share contents and information, but they had very limited feedback.

Microsoft

Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation and philanthropist Paul Allen sent 8,000 smartphones to West Africa to improve communication among medical staff. However, 3G and 4G in West Africa are very limited, especially in rural areas. This makes smartphones an ineffective means of communication. Cases like Ebola teach us that successful technology is not only about having a great idea that stands out. When it comes to humanitarian crises, technology is about humility and pragmatism. Start ups that want to collaborate should redefine the word ‘success’ as an almost ego-less fulfillment.

mHero

Systems like mHero, a free SMS system that allows different healthcare staff to communicate on mobile phones, have become popular because they aim to bridge gaps where the most basic and urgent needs – such as communication and information – are lacking.

Bitcoin Against Ebola

Bitcoin Against Ebola is a nonprofit initiative from the Ghanaian startup Beam, which allows saving more than 85 percent on fee transactions when making donations for Ebola-affected regions. The first lesson that the tragedy of Ebola has taught the tech world is that collective involvement is key. Solutions require joint efforts to be developed, and should be as accessible as possible.

OncoSynergy and Xenex

Startups like OncoSynergy and Xenex developed OS2966, a drug that could potentially treat Ebola, and a virus-zapping robot that uses lights to clean infected rooms, respectively. They work from a strictly medical angle and are undoubtedly relevant. The former has so far raised $3.8 million for its research and recently crowdfunded $10,000 for further clinical testing of OS2966. There is much hope that these solutions will work.

Perspective

It is important, however, to look beyond the contingency of the crisis. A possible perspective to look at how technology can effectively help stem the effects of Ebola is to see at its long-term impact. Eradicating the virus is obviously crucial for the current emergency, but the idea of “support” consists also in providing a structure where the countries affected can re-build their future.

Mhero and Bitcoins Against Ebola are systems that can outlive the Ebola emergency. Mobile phone-based apps have shown to be the most marketable in African countries. Frontline SMS enables NGOs to communicate with areas that lack internet; M-Farm allows farmers to receive updates about real market prices of products; and the colossal M-pesa allows money transactions via SMS.

Mhero, which emerged specifically for the Ebola emergency, could outlive the crisis and keep helping the medical sector. Similarly, Bitcoin Against Ebola can keep functioning as a vehicle to reduce transaction fees on charitable donations.

Support from entrepreneurship, however, should not be limited to services. William Reide Dennis II, the Active Director of the Business Startup Center Monrovia, in Liberia, said funding is flowing to his country to help it come out of the emergency. This money can be used to jumpstart Liberian entrepreneurship.

In collaboration with SPARK, they established the Ebola Business Case, where local entrepreneurs supply medication, rice, scrub uniforms for health workers and wood to build treatment units. Helping West African countries stem the virus and end the emergency is in the interest of the whole world.

Read more at SocialStory.