Health officials are hoping a new, interactive app that allows Ebola survivors to share their stories and connect with others will help curtail the spread of the deadly disease in western Africa.
The #ISurvivedEbola app, part of the #TackleEbola multimedia campaign launched by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Vulcan Publications in collaboration with UNICEF, was unveiled this week in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia with a message sent by Camara "Fanta" Fantaoulen, an Ebola survivor from Guinea who lost six family members to the outbreak. The app connects to a web site where survivors can share their stories (including videos), connect with each other and talk about the challenges they still face.
Health officials hope to use the site to pass on public health information and collect data that can be tapped to better treat the disease. Each survivor in the three countries who has shared his or her story with campaign staff is being given a smartphone installed with the app.
“The mobile app really changes the face of this campaign by empowering the people of West Africa to share stories about Ebola and survivorship with each other and the world," Carole Tomko, general manager and creative director at Vulcan Productions, said in a press release. "The app gives a human face to survivorship and has the potential to create a sense of community in which the survivors, rather than being stigmatized, become leaders and heroes in this fight. The new digital components of the campaign extend our reach beyond West Africa, allowing these very moving, personal stories to be seen and heard globally.”
Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, and his wife Jody have pledged at least $100 million to stop the spread of Ebola, which has killed more than 8,000 people, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
The #TackleEbola campaign was launched in December 2014 with the web site, which featured a video from a Liberian survivor, and has since included stories from Sierra Leone and Guinea. The campaign has also kicked off an educational radio program in Liberia, and officials expect the mobile app to connect more survivors and healthcare workers in a format that appeals to many people.
“While treatment of Ebola patients is critical, the best way to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is to cut the chain of transmission and prevent further infections,” Rafael Obregon, chief of the Communication for Development Section at UNICEF, said in the release. “As the global UN lead for the Social Mobilization Pillar of the Ebola response in West Africa, UNICEF is at the helm of efforts to stop transmission by working with national governments and partners to educate the public in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea about how to protect themselves, their families, and their communities from the virus. #ISurvivedEbola is reinforcing our efforts by providing this information in multiple, highly entertaining forms, including through the testimonies of actual survivors.”
