Stories from the field
Messages of health and hope
May 3, 2010
Faced with one of the largest urban disasters and subsequent humanitarian responses in the history of the Red Cross, innovative techniques are helping mitigate health risks, such as the spread of disease. Using SMS texting and a mobile phone number, earthquake survivors are receiving vital information about a vaccination campaign taking place in Port-au-Prince, where to go to receive safe drinking water, and other preventative health information. “We are now able to disseminate information directly to beneficiaries and know they will receive and understand it,” says Panu Saaristo, an emergency health coordinator with the International Red Cross. “We know it’s working because people have turned up at Red Cross hospitals showing us the texts and asking to get vaccinated.” |
 Haitians can call a free mobile phone number to receive updates on Red Cross work to stop the spread of diseases in the many camps set up to shelter those who lost their homes. |
The phone line and SMS texting campaign are the collaborative efforts of the Haitian Red Cross, the Irish Red Cross and the International Red Cross in partnership with the Haitian telecommunications firm Voila.
The SMS messages are being sent to 1.2 million phones and the campaign has already delivered more than 16 million text messages.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Nelson Castano, emergency operations coordinator for the International Red Cross. “The importance of communicating with beneficiaries has never been so important as in this disaster, and we have to keep moving with these innovations and get as much relevant information out to the people as we can.”
