Cambodia

Pangaea Assisted in Development of a Cell-Phone Based Appointment Reminder System for HIV Patients

In collaboration with the Cambodian National Centre for HIVIAIDS, Dermatology and STDs ("NCHADS") and InSTEDD, Pangaea assisted in the development an appointment reminder system for HIV patients in a project that was completed in 2010. 

The desired outcome of the NCHADS Appointment Reminder System (NARS) project was a decrease in lost-to-follow-up with HIV/AIDS patients in the two piloted provinces in Cambodia.  These two provinces are Pursat and Banttambong.  The capabilities of the new system included an ability to filter and display appointments based on appointment date pulled from NACHADS’s database system called OI/ART, perform a ‘send’ message for the selected appointment, track confirmed appointment, and resend appointment when necessary.

With additional funding this system will potentially be nationally replicable by NCHADS.  InSTEDD will ultimately train the IT team at NCHADS to easily use, train other users, and adjust the system to meet the changing needs of HIV/AIDS patient care and treatment.

Estimates showed that HIV prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 decreased to 0.9 percent in 2006 from 1.2% in 2003. HIV prevalence was estimated to have dropped to 0.7 percent in the urrent reporting period (2008‐2009). The projections are based on the assumption that interventions are sustained at the same level. Epidemiological data show that the epidemic in Cambodia is concentrated among sex workers and entertainment workers, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. Although prevention programmes have had significant results, HIV prevalence among these most‐at‐risk populations continues to be high and there is a general consensus that there is a real risk of a second‐wave of HIV infections within these groups.

Source:  UNGASS, Cambodia Progress Report, April 2010

 

 

 


 

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