Making Health Care More Accessible to Rural Communities in Waslala, Nicaragua Using Low-Cost Telecommunications

Singh, Pritpal; Kulkarni, Sarvesh; Keech, Elizabeth K.; McDermott-Levy, Ruth; Klingler, James

doi:10.1109/ghtc.2011.28

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Paper based solutions cannot provide real time information and recently there have been efforts to collect data via SMS [9] in other supply chain domains. SMS is attractive because of its low cost and wide accessibility in the field [10]. One such study, SMS for Life, used text messages to track stock levels for anti-malarial drugs in Kenya [2,11].…”

Section: Information Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting immunization programs with improved vaccine cold chain information systems

Anderson

Perrier

Pervaiz

et al. 2014

IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2014)

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Immunization is recognized as one of the most successful public health interventions ever devised. A critical component of immunization programs is the vaccine cold chainthe cold storage to keep vaccines safe from manufacture to eventual delivery to the child. Countries need to manage their vaccine cold chains and logistics systems to ensure sufficient storage capacity, distribution of adequate supplies of vaccines, and functional cold storage equipment. There are particular challenges for remote facilities where transportation costs are high, power infrastructure is lacking, and communication is limited. Accurate information about the cold chain is essential to address these challenges and to evaluate the impact of different interventions.A Cold Chain Information System (CCIS), which tracks health facility information and the country's cold chain equipment can help address these challenges at both the strategic (planning) and tactical (management) levels. This paper describes our efforts to develop a CCIS for Laos, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Lao Ministry of Health. The work builds on experience with deploying CCIS's in multiple countries along with developing analysis tools and data standards. The CCIS in Laos uses DHIS2, a widely used web based health indicator system as the back end, which is integrated with SMS reporting from the district and health center level where internet is not guaranteed to be available. A central goal of the system is to allow regular reporting of vaccine stock levels and vaccine refrigerator status (measured by logging devices recording high and low temperature alarms). The system is designed with notifications to promote action by technicians or managers. The technical contributions of this work include the development of a new data model for DHIS2 and a text message system using an Android gateway to RapidSMS with a custom notification engine interfacing to DHIS2.

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Section: Information Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting immunization programs with improved vaccine cold chain information systems

Anderson

Perrier

Pervaiz

et al. 2014

IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2014)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Seven years ago, a new project was started to design and implement a tele-health system in the region around Waslala to improve access to quality health care for the members of the communities in that region. A system was developed and implemented and details of the project can be found in references [1] and [2]. One of the by-products of this project was the development of a partnership between Villanova University and the Universidad Nacional de Ingieneria (UNI) in Managua, Nicaragua, the largest public engineering school in Nicaragua.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Update on Partnership between Villanova University and Universidad Nacional de Ingieneria (UNI) on Joint Senior Design Projects

Singh¹,

Moncada²,

Zeledon³

2017

Proceedings of the 15th LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education, and Technology: “Global Partnership F

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Villanova Electrical and Computer Engineering students have been working with students from Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI's) faculty of electrical, electronic and computer engineering student for the last four years on joint senior design projects. The students at each institution takes a common, jointly taught, two course sequence focused on developing a technical proposal for their design projects and on developing sustainable business models for their products. We have previously presented a description on this two course sequence with some preliminary results of this initiative [1]. In this paper we provide an update on the progress of this course. We describe several more examples of projects that have been developed in the last two years and how some of the challenges previously faced have been overcome.

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“…A system was developed and implemented and details of the project can be found in references [1] and [2]. One of the byproducts of this project was the development of a partnership with the National Engineering University (Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria -UNI) in Managua, Nicaragua, the largest and most prominent engineering school in Nicaragua.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Instilling the Entrepreneurial Mindset by International Development Project Work

Singh¹,

Moncada²

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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the areas of semiconductor microelectronics, renewable energy systems and power electronics. He has been working on thin film solar cell research since 1979 including a Sabbatical Leave at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 1993. He has also worked on several photovoltaic system projects Dr. Singh has also worked on electric vehicle research, working on battery monitoring and management systems funded primarily by federal agencies (over $3.5 million of funding).Dr. Singh has consulted for several companies including Ford Motor Company and Epuron, LLC. He has also served as a reviewer for the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation. Dr Singh has over 100 conference and journal publications and holds six issued US patents.Dr. Singh's recent work is focused on improved, energy efficient devices and systems for use in rural health clinics in developing countries. Mariavirginia1965@gmail.com Maria Virginia Moncada AbstractThe entrepreneurial mindset has a number of attributes including curiosity about the world around you, discovery of opportunities, prototyping and vetting technology/business solutions and then executing on the venture. International development projects offer many possibilities to learn about an environment that students are not used to seeing and through observation, see opportunities for technology-based solutions to developing world problems. We have used this methodology for several senior design projects in the past and more recently have developed courses specifically to develop these attributes in electrical and computer engineering students.A two course sequence has been piloted for the first time this year. In the first course, taken by students in their junior year, the students are given the cultural context in a developing country (in particular, the present course's focus has been on Nicaragua). This topic is followed by a Spring break trip to Nicaragua and the students live out in rural communities to discover potential projects that have technical merit and offer potential business opportunities. The project proposals are then developed by students from a US university and a Nicaraguan university.In the second course, in parallel with the actual project design, the students take a business model development course to understand business models and how to produce them. They then use this knowledge to develop a business model for their particular projects.In the paper, details of the two courses will be presented along with student outcomes being measured in terms of how well the entrepreneurial mindset is being instilled.

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Making Health Care More Accessible to Rural Communities in Waslala, Nicaragua Using Low-Cost Telecommunications

Cited by 10 publications

References 2 publications

Supporting immunization programs with improved vaccine cold chain information systems

Supporting immunization programs with improved vaccine cold chain information systems

Update on Partnership between Villanova University and Universidad Nacional de Ingieneria (UNI) on Joint Senior Design Projects

Instilling the Entrepreneurial Mindset by International Development Project Work

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