COLUMN By Nigel Jena

Cape Town — We live in the era where everything is becoming digitized to improve accessibility and efficiency, and in recent years ICT has made its way into the healthcare industry. Our product will fuse GIS, Disaster Risk Management and Software engineering, the application will use GPS to keep track of the user’s location and if the user is headed into a zone which has a recorded disease outbreak the application will notify the user of the danger ahead and it will provide the user with health tips to protect the user from getting contaminated with the disease, it will further help the user by suggesting the nearest health facilities should the user feel the need to visit a hospital or clinic. Unlike the current information dissemination system being used by the ministry, this innovation will allow interaction and personalised information, that is to say, the user will only get a notification if he or she is heading in the direction of a recorded contagious disease or if the person is already in an affected area. By creating this platform we are trying to reduce the spread of infectious diseases through the use of modern communication mediums and geo-coded data. It will act as a personal early warning system and will enable the user to make informed decisions when traveling. Also we are trying to solve the issue of the distribution of healthcare information in the hopes that this method will be quicker and efficient and highly adaptable and reliable, solving the problem of accessibility…

Importance of disaster surveillance

  • Helps a community respond to health hazards quickly.
  • Enables a community to efficiently prepare for any health related disasters.
  • Acts as an early warning system.
  • Provides an individual with necessary information related to the threats
  • Offers immediate solutions in the case of exposure..

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