Text Messaging Featured Article

While the focus of news in the U.S. may have shifted to election coverage, the threat of Ebola is still front and center for those living in the six West African countries to which the virus has spread. Estimations are that about 5,000 people have died from Ebola so far, but the crisis is also wreaking havoc on political balances, local economics and—most importantly—people’s livelihoods. With infrastructures falling into chaos, aid workers and researchers struggled to get in touch with citizens in affected areas, until they realized there is one system that remains intact: text messaging through cellular service.

In order to gauge the severity of food shortages, for instance, a UN World Food Program (WFP) survey was conducted earlier this month by SMS and interactive voice calls, allowing researchers to send questions to people who live in the two districts polled. Considering the dangers of entering into areas where Ebola is still actively spreading, this use of text messaging keeps researchers safe, and enables them to send many rounds of surveys over time, either manually or automatically as follow-ups.

The SMS survey found that households in two districts in eastern Sierra Leone— Kailahun and Kenema—citizens are resorting to what the UN classifies as “severe food coping strategies, such as skipping meals, reducing portion sizes, and eating less-preferred foods.

“This means people are struggling to meet their basic food needs,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, a food analyst with the WFP. 

“Our typical approach involves sending out roving teams of enumerators with clipboards (or handheld devices) to collect data through face-to-face personal interviews with respondents,” wrote Bauer in an email to Nextgov. “The process delivers valuable detailed information, but tends to be cumbersome.”

He went on to add that conducting surveys through SMS alleviates some of that burden, and that the WFP can now bring in new data regularly and issue reports on the matter monthly without the need for much manpower, let alone on the frontlines. These tactics for collecting data are not perfect, considering that in 2013 there were only 44 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people in Sierra Leone, according to the World Bank. But in situations such as a dangerous viral outbreak, the use of remote technology offers safety to those collecting the information, and makes it more likely that outside help will understand the severity of situations in affected areas, thus making it more likely that they will get the help they need.