Beginning in 2008, the MIDA Team launched a multi-phased effort to provide a valuable mobile application to in-field health workers aiding the world’s rural poor. Shortly thereafter, the MIDA Team quickly engaged in a full project roll-out consistent with the following six phase plan. Currently, the MIDA team has initiated Phase 1 and are in planning sessions for Phase 2. Please contact the MIDA team with questions or requests for further information.

Phase 1: Software Development & Funding

This phase will consist of setting the foundation for our project, the main goal of which is developing the applicable software. It will include building a diagnostic Q&A database, getting a license (for an existing medical diagnostic system), tailoring the system to fit a particular country setting (language, regional diseases, etc.), and then testing the actual program with cell phones. The funding we receive will not only allow us to develop the software, but also in vamping up our website for public consumption. Additionally, during this period we will put together presentations and make pitches to various other donors (investment rounds in D.C., Silicon Valley, Boston, etc.)

Phase 2: Choosing Pilot Project and Securing Local Support

The second phase will be characterized by choosing our pilot program. The stages of this phase include gaining the support of host country government officials, securing sponsorship from a local/regional telecom company, and forming partnerships with public health NGOs for project implementation.

Phase 3: On-the-Ground Preparation

Once the initial steps have been put in place, we plan to locate a partner NGO to assemble/recruit a local project management team during the third phase. The purpose of which will be to recruit specialists to serve on our on-call network and to procure, install, and test hardware.

Phase 4: Pilot project roll-out

Phase four will be the phase in which the project is finally implemented. We will first produce the training and user assistance materials, in addition to training our personnel. Before the project is rolled-out, we will initiate a marketing campaign aimed at public health employees. The next step is the launch date.

Phase 5: Ongoing project management

Once the project is initiated, the real work will begin. An integral part of our project is project management. We will have to continually manage our specialist network to ensure that they are addressing a minimum number of cases per week.  Monitoring the quality of replies and health outcomes of the patients who use our system will be an important task throughout the process. Another facet of our project is analyzing and organizing the public health data that we have received. Our goal is to identify disease emergencies and hot spots that need to be focused on and researched in more detail. As part of this process, we will publish and distribute the data within the public health community. This entire phase will be characterized by ongoing project management that will assist us in correcting glitches and ensuring that the project is performing up to its upmost capabilities. The fifth phase will also include IT maintenance and managing of the server.

Phase 6: Monitoring & Evaluation

For our final phase, which will be a continuation of the previous phase, we will undertake a more in depth monitoring and evaluating of our project. As part of this stage, we plan to solicit feedback from specialists, users, public heath officials, and others who are familiar with our program through periodic surveys. We hope to follow up on cases to determine health outcomes of patients and to analyze the usage patterns of our program. The benefits of doing so will be identifying where and when the system is used the most (and the least). The data will also assist us in figuring out the success rate of our project (including the percentage of unsuccessful message attempts) and allow us to compare MIDA data to health ministry statistics. Finally, our last step will consist of submitting regular status reports to donors and analyzing when, where and how we could expand our project.