The 'RapidSMS' system developed by UNICEF for Malawi allows health workers to enter a child's data and receive instant alerts on nutritional status. It is a vast improvement on Malawi's previous nutrition surveillance system, which suffered from slow data transmission and high operating costs.NEW YORK, USA, 10 September 2009 – UNICEF has won the Gov2.0 Summit Award for an innovative system adapting accessible technology to better monitor the health and nutritional status of children in Malawi.
'RapidSMS' is UNICEF's open-source platform for data collection, logistics coordination and communication, allowing any mobile phone to interact with the web. The technology directly responds to one of the biggest challenges facing UNICEF's field operations: access to accurate, timely and actionable information.
'Best thing I've seen'
The technology was presented at the Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase in Washington DC, where an audience of about 600 academics, entrepreneurs, journalists and representatives from non-profit organizations and government agencies voted for their favourite projects.
RapidSMS won in the category of 'Government as a Provider' and received high praise from attendees, many of whom posted reactions via Twitter.
As one post from 'ilabra' said: "Rapid SMS unicef talk best thing I've seen at Gov2.0. real problems, code production and a floss [free license and open source software] project. A generative pattern. Well done."
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