The Wheel of Destiny Is Made Of Paper

Every week until 2010, Dr. Sophornnarith, director of the Kien Svay Operational District (OD), noticed irregularity of the weekly reports of some health centers in the district. The Health Center staff were not careless about completing and sending the reports, but they were expected to follow a process that created logistical problems.

For two years, the combination of Geochat and Reporting Wheel, two technologies developed by InSTEDD, has become the must-have solution for Health Centers to cope with reporting difficulties. And this approach has become a great deal, more reliable and understandable way to complete this critical reporting task. 

INTERN AT THE iLAB SOUTHEAST ASIA: A personal experience by Ariane COMBAL-WEISS

Ariane Combal-Weiss, student, spent twelve days working in the communication department at InSTEDD iLab Southeast Asia in Phnom Penh. Here is what she thinks of her internship.

Before this internship, I have never been fortunate enough to experience the world of work. The knowledge I could retrieve from high school and university has always seemed very theoretical to me, even though it interested and inspired me. Academic knowledge is useful as long as you know what you want to do with it. What I needed was to develop a practical application of my academic knowledge.

I have learned a lot on myself from the internship in the communication services at InSTEDD. I’ve realized that I felt truly interested and involved in the journalist’s assignments, such as looking for information required for articles, as well as writing articles. Understanding complex systems like Data Integration took some time, but I really enjoyed investigating them.

An SMS To Contain Tuberculosis

BY: Ariane Combal-Weiss  :

To answer the request of Family Health International (FHI) to promote earlier tuberculosis case detection, iLab Southeast Asia (iLab SEA), located in Phnom Penh, is designing a step by step TB Lab Result Alert System. It aims to offer early detection of tuberculosis in rural and remote villages in Kampong Cham province and to accelerate patient  access to care. Leveraging mobile technology (SMS), this system is involved in the containment of tuberculosis.

A common scenario: the average man in the street in a rural village in Kampong Cham contracts tuberculosis. He is not aware he has the disease but describes having some symptoms. The village Health Center (“HC”) doesn’t have the facilities to make a diagnosis based on medical analysis, and therefore turns to a specialized laboratory at the downtown district.