The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has joined Sierra Leone’s telecommunications industry to use a location-targeted SMS system called the Trilogy Emergency Relief Application (TERA) in saving lives.
According to a statement released by the Red Cross “the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS), with support from the British and Icelandic Red Cross Societies, will be able to reach 36,000 people an hour at the touch of a button with warnings of impending fires, floods, or outbreaks of disease.”
The IFRC says the country is only the second globally to launch the TERA SMS system, which is being delivered in partnership with mobile operator Airtel.
In its first month, the Red Cross and Airtel aim to reach 1 million people nation-wide with life-saving information on preventing malaria ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25th.
In 2012 Sierra Leone was hit by the worst cholera outbreak in 40 years, with about 300 deaths, but armed with information provided by mobile technology the health care of Sierra Leoneans can be safe guarded.
