In April 2009, there was an outbreak of a flu-like illness that started in Mexico. Cases then began popping up in the Southwest United states, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a health advisory.
The disease spread rapidly throughout the world’s population. One of the most alarming components of this new flu strain (the H1N1 or Swine Flu) was that it disproportionally affected healthy young people, which resulted in heightened amounts of hospitalization, and in the most severe cases, death.
The reason the so-called swine flu was so alarming, was that it mirrored the 1918 flu pandemic (the Spanish Flu) in that it spread rapidly and excessively affected healthy young adults. Most flu outbreaks typically target the very young, very old, or those with weakened immune systems. The H1N1, like the Spanish Flu in 1918, became a huge concern for the majority of 2009.
The vaccine was hard to come by, and there was a plethora of inaccurate information being continuously disseminated. However, in contrast with the 1918 flu outbreak which killed an estimated 50-100 million people, the WHO estimates that only 18,138 died from the swine flu.
What was the reason for this huge discrepancy between 1918 and 2009? Obviously technological advancements in medicine, biology, and general understanding of how and why disease spread played a huge part in this low death toll. However, at least in the developing world, the rapid spread of information played a big part in reducing fatalities.
But what about for developing countries that don’t have this type of access to information? Some of the most virulent epidemics are spread in developing countries including malaria, yellow fever, and ebola.
Those in developing countries simply don’t have the type of access to technology that those in developed countries do, putting them at a higher risk of contracting and spreading diseases simply because they don’t have the constant Internet connectivity in contrast to the Western world.
An interactive voice response system could be instrumental in helping third world countries stay abreast of current diseases, potentially threatening epidemics and pandemics, and medical recommendations and solutions for how individuals can stay healthy even in the presence of germs and disease.
Most developing countries have at least one phone line in the village, and an IVR system could link to worldwide WHO databases and then be programmed to immediately place an outbound call in the event that there was a local, national, or global threat on the public health horizon!
