Cell Phones Can Help Fight AIDS in Africa

Spreading information is critical to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, and one major tool to help accomplish that will be cell phones.

According to the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 67 percent of all new HIV cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Spreading information is critical to stopping the spread of the disease, and one major tool to help accomplish that will be cell phones, says UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe.

Cell phones provide people with "free communication and quality advice," said Sidibe, talking about a program in Nigeria that provides toll-free calls to HIV counselors. Almost five percent of Nigerians are currently infected with HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS.

According to the AFP news service, there are 70 million cell phone users in Nigeria, representing around half of the country's population. Like many other nations in Africa, Nigeria has relatively few landlines, because the infrastructure for traditional phone service was never put in place. Mobile phones have become what is known as a "leapfrog" technology, allowing people in developing nations to skip over certain techs that we take for granted and go directly to more modern systems.

Nigeria's counseling program is one which could be duplicated in other African countries, says Sidibe. Mobile phones can also help connect remote workers to doctors at hospitals miles away, enhancing treatment for a variety of illnesses. "It is time to reinforce our capacity to use the modern technology differently."

There's actually something you can do to help this along. Every time you replace your cell phone, consider donating your old one to a charity like Collective Good, which refurbishes the phones and makes them available at little to no cost in the developing world. Your old phone will not only stay out of a landfill, it will help to connect people to resources and communication tools they would not otherwise have.

You can read more about UNAIDS' efforts to provide universal access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support here.

Photo by Simon Cataudo, via Stock.xchng.