Participatory Neglected Tropical Disease Detection and Response System

Bebe Sylla and a team at American Friends of Guinea in the U.S. will use Short Message Service (SMS) and mobile laboratory technologies in rural Guinea to improve the identification of and response to neglected tropical diseases. Rapid and accurate response to the emergence of parasitic infections is critical for reducing transmission cycles, but particularly difficult in rural areas. They will introduce a community-based surveillance system where residents are taught how to recognize symptoms of several prevalent parasite infections, and how to report them to a mobile laboratory using SMS. The mobile laboratory is an all-terrain vehicle carrying necessary laboratory equipment that can mediate between the rural community and hospitals and health clinics to improve diagnosis and treatment.