Parsons Students have developed a mechanism to use social media to inform distributors of needs for medicine in remote locations. 

“One of the big problems in preventing and managing illness in Africa is the failure of governments to get medicines they have bought or received from outside agencies down to the village level.

In May of 2009, Oxfam and Health Action International (HAI) Africa convened 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) and policy-makers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to examine strategies for reducing stock-outs of medicines in Africa. Using Google Maps and SMS, the students were able to track 10 key medicines in four African countries.” 

This system is very similar to the SMS program that Zanibar uses to send in malaria results via cell phones to prevent possible outbreaks of the disease.  As technology continues to connect people at the local level, it is enouraging to see those connections help those most in need.