HP provides technology to reduce malaria

HP is providing webOS-based Pre 2 smartphones and cloud computing technology to non-profit group Positive Innovation for the Next Generation (PING) to monitor disease outbreaks in the country. The programme is part of HP's new strategy to deal with charitable donations; it now gives in-kind technology and expertise where it once donated money. The programme shows how mobile technology can help change the world.

HP is providing mobile equipment to health workers and is training them how to report outbreaks of disease such as malaria. In partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and mobile network provider Mascom, HP collects the data from the smartphones and organises it in a database with navigation coordinates and other details. The data will contribute to a first-ever geographic map of disease transmission in the country. That in turn enables faster response and better measurement. It can also speed up the distribution of mosquito nets.