Mobile Software Solutions Limited, a Nigerian start-up has demonstrated how technology is making such a difference in the global efforts to control and eliminate malaria and called for increased political commitment and expanded funding in Nigeria, which is one of the countries hardest hit by the scourge, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can report.
Ahead of this year’s World Malaria day on April 25, the firm said, Malaria Destroyer Game (MDG), its newly developed solution can help reduce cases of malaria by 50 per cent.
In 2010, approximately 216 million malaria cases and 655,000 malaria deaths occurred worldwide according to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2011.
And in line with this year’s theme “Invest in the future. Defeat Malaria”, Mobile Software Solutions Limited, said that the introduction of technology to fight malaria may have accelerated the hope to save more lives – more than ever before.
Chris Uwaje, chairman of Mobile Software Solutions, said that “the world can save more lives by introducing the right technologies to fight and destroy malaria, since majority of the death are due to ignorance. Information Technology is therefore the sustainable answer and solution for Africa’s malaria problem and Nigeria can lead the fight to destroy malaria by example – through her current mobile phone ubiquitous advantage.”
Uwaje who is also the immediate past president of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), said that technology is imperative for surveillance and monitoring.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that malaria still kills an estimated 627 000 people every year, mainly children under 5 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013, 97 countries had on-going malaria transmission.
Every year, more than 200 million cases occur; most of these cases are never tested or registered.
Emerging drug and insecticide resistance threaten to reverse recent gains.
According to Uwaje, Nigeria must adopt technology strategy and apply the mobile phone and App advantage, where Nigeria currently has a lead.
“With more than 120 million mobile phones in the hands of Nigerians, we now have the capability to engage and destroy the malaria. Malaria Destroyer Game is the ultimate solution” he added.
MDG deploys and applies technology to reach millions of people world-wide and destroy malaria.
According to Uwaje, “the MDG is a digital knowledge-entertainment and educational mobile psycho-game, and is endorsed by the United Nations (UNESCO Chair on e-Learning for Africa), Open Media, Centre for Values and Leadership, University of Tampere, Finland, among others”
“The application/solution is geared towards the eradication of malaria in Africa and the world over. Its central focus is to ensure that Nigeria attains a fundamental requirement of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. The strategy aims to reduce the cost of lost productivity in Nigeria and Africa by 50 per cent by 2015.”
The application, will be deployed online to reach 50-250 million mobile phones and offline on personal computers/tablets to reach 20-50 million students in tertiary institutions in Africa.
The Malaria Destroyer Game aims to bring more to intuition the awareness on how to fight/eradicate mosquitoes from the environment thereby preventing malaria and early death of African children.
It is a full graphics animated mobile game, which runs across all mobile platforms – Apple IOS, Andriod, Blackberry, Symbian, among others.”