By 2030 it will be hard to refer to any region in Kenya as “remote”. This is possible when the country achieves its set vision 2030 gaols. Part of these eight internationally agreed goals for Kenya’s social economic development includes improvement of health, lowering HIV/AIDS, major disease incidences and having better partnerships with international development partners.

In line with this, Orange Kenya has joined forces with Text for Change and mPedigree in using mobile telephony to provide health communication and research. Running on the telecommunication landscape, mPedigree will enable people in the remotest parts of Kenya to check the authenticity of drugs they use.

The agreement between these companies will help people to access “Click diagnosis” services on their mobile phones. They will be able to get immediate response on the nearest clinics, availability of drugs and physicians phisical locations.

Through mHealth, patients will save time by getting digitized X-rays sent over to their physicians who diagonise and prescribe appropriate medication. Scarce resources and expertise can also be shared on this platform.

Text for Change (TTC) is a Dutch NGO that combines the increased growth of mobile telephony with the need for better health projects. Through mHealth system application, TTC extends channels of health communication to other NGOs.

Using the Orange network, TTC will use SMS communication to assess mobile phone users on their health knowledge. The aim is to encourage mobile phone users to go for HIV testing, prevention and treatment clinics and also provide information on available health services in local areas.

The use of mobile phones has been an effective tool for educating the masses on health matters. It has encouraged testing and drug compliance, as well as availing what options people have in terms of alternative health care.

Text for Change has launched a similar campaign in Cameroon to increase awareness of child exploitation practices. This application also runs on Orange databases. Parallel to this, a free SMS reporting system was set up to allow people to report cases of child abuse anonymously.

Applications used in mobile phones have emerged as one of the strong frontiers of growth in the ICT sector. Through this partnership, Orange will provide the technical support for health care-related operations in the countries across Africa where Orange is present. Orange has already partnered with Qualcomm and Dell in a similar project dubbed “Wireless Reach” that is an initiative that helps to manage health facilities.