Alcatel- Lucent has joined the Senegalese government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to support the “Be Healthy, Be Mobile” initiative.
The mDiabetes project aims at combating diabetes with an ambitious and innovative campaign based on mobile technology, designed to improve prevention by raising awareness among diabetic patients as well as training health professionals. SMS messages as well as applications will be used as tools in the campaign.
Alcatel-Lucent will provide the Ministry of Health and their partners in Senegal with the MNC technological platform mBox as in-kind contribution to the project and will be responsible for coordinating the SaaS platform (software services) and SAP mobile services for the pilot application of “mDiabetes”.
“Senegal is ready for this mDiabetes project which is in a way a natural extension of the eDiabetes program developed by UNFM. Since 2009, it has helped to establish strong ties of cooperation between France and Senegal around diabetes and new technologies,” said Dr Kleinebreil, Vice-President of the UNFM (Université Numérique Francophone Mondiale – a NGO specialized in using ICTs for education in Africa).
Other partners in the project include the ITU, WHO, ASSAD (Senegalese Association for the Assistance and Support of Diabetes Patients), the African branch of the International Diabetes Federation, the NGO UNFM, the Marc Sankalé Diabetes Center, Alcatel-Lucent, Sonatel/Orange, BUPA (global international health insurance and services company), and Sanofi.
“We are convinced of the value of this project for improving the conditions for diabetes patients in Senegal and are genuinely delighted to be involved as a technological partner in contributing to the success of the mDiabetes project, which aims to improve prevention, raise awareness and combat diabetes and non-transmissible diseases in Senegal. This is an ambitious initiative which could ultimately be replicated in other countries in the fight against diabetes or any other disease,” said Alpin Verlet, Managing Director of Alcatel-Lucent for West and Central Africa.