The project involves the use of technology to address a health crisis, that is, cell phones programmed to record the medication details of AIDS patients. To build capacity in use of this technology, the programme trained 25 Hannan Crusaid treatment centre counselors in Cape Town's Guguletu township to use the phones, which are equipped with a special menu that allows them to capture data about patients' symptoms and pill taking regimen, as well as other factors that might affect their health (e.g., lack of money to pay for transport to the clinic, or a shortage of food).

The trained counsellors visit patients several times a week. During the visit, cell phones equipped with a wireless Internet gateway (WIG) application are used to report on a patient's status. The information is sent via short messaging service (SMS) to a central database, which can be accessed by the patient's doctor or nurse. Should an emergency arise, the doctor will be automatically contacted via SMS. The information is relayed instantly to a central database, which can be accessed by clinic staff over a secure connection. In addition to their scheduled visits, counsellors arrive unannounced once every 4 months to do a pill count. The information they collect is compared with clinic data on the number of pills issued to patients, and enables staff to spot inconsistent use. "With Cell-Life they can pick up patients who are having a hard time taking their pills, before they go into virological failure and the drugs stop working."

The software was developed by engineering students at the University of Cape Town and Cape Technikon, with funding from Vodacom and the National Research Foundation. The package can only be used on Vodacom's cellular network, but talks are underway with other cell phone providers (MTN and Cell-C). Cell-Life is also being used to monitor close to 500 patients in KwaZulu-Natal.

HIV/AIDS

"Cell-life...brings together technology experts in IT, health and engineering to solve what is undoubtedly a logistical nightmare for patients and health professionals. The cell phone solution also provides a data collection tool to establish drug effectiveness and response time to side effects, such as lever-toxicity after using Nevirapine. It is envisaged that cell phones with GPS [Global Positioning System] technology will be provided to the therapeutic counsellors, an important factor in rural areas."

To protect patient identities and maintain confidentiality, the database stores only unique patient numbers. The database is password-protected and secured with the same sophisticated technology used by financial institutions.