Fighting Malaria With Cell Phones

In an article published in Science magazine on October 12, 2012, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and seven other institutions offered findings about the spread of malaria in Kenya.  Unique to their two-year effort was use of location data gleaned from tracking some 15 million cell phone users. The study found that when cell phone data was compared with known outbreaks in Kenya, discernible patterns emerged that were related to population mobility. Find below three options to learn more:

Quantifying the Impact of Human Mobility on Malaria (Science, October 12, 2012, for fee)

Using Cell Phone Data to Curb the Spread of Malaria (HSPH Press Release, October 11, 2012)

Tracking a Killer: Cell Phones Aid Pioneering Malaria Study in Kenya (CNN, October 13, 2012)

Comment: This story is proof positive that not all instances of cell phone location tracking are bad. It's more a matter of how the data is "scrubbed" and then used. Kudos to all for such an inventive effort!  

Also worthy of note are plans to use cell phones in a very different way to fight malaria. See below: