Satellife Named Co-Winner of 2002 Stockholm Challenge Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health and Technology

SATELLIFE NAMED CO-WINNER OF 2002 STOCKHOLM CHALLENGE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY

Massachusetts Non-profit Receives World Recognition for Groundbreaking Efforts in Dealing with Disease in Africa

Watertown, Massachusetts - October 11, 2002 - SATELLIFE, a non-profit organization based in Watertown, Massachusetts, has broken new ground in the use of information technology to save lives in Africa. This achievement was recognized on October 10 when the organization was announced as the co-winner of the 2002 Stockholm Challenge Award in Health (http://www.challenge.stockholm.se). This prestigious international award, presented for outstanding accomplishment in the use of IT for international development, was given to seven winners spread between 6 categories, chosen from over 600 entrants.

“We are thrilled by the acknowledgement that SATELLIFE is revolutionizing the way people think about using technology in Africa,” said Holly Ladd, SATELLIFE’s Executive Director. “Our project demonstrated that relatively simple and affordable technology can deliver life-saving information in parts of the world that aren’t even wired for telephones, let alone the Internet. It’s hard for the average American who takes the web for granted to appreciate the power that information can have in Africa. But in an environment where 8,000 people die of AIDS every day, a child dies from measles every minute, and doctors don’t even have medical journals, it can make a world of difference.”

The award-winning project was funded by Acumen Fund (http://www.acumen fund.org), a public charity that links philanthropists with opportunities to invest in social change enterprises. “We congratulate SATELLIFE for its excellent work and innovation in health information,” said Dan Toole, Acumen’s Chief Operating Officer. “We chose to work with SATELLIFE because of their creativity in harmonizing technology and information to meet real human needs. Their use of handheld computers in Africa opens up opportunities for the public and private sectors to pursue strategies for positive change throughout the continent.”

SATELLIFE’s project is designed to meet the tremendous need for reliable, up-to-date, and relevant information among health professionals in Africa using handheld computers, also known as personal digital assistants or PDAs. In a continent ravaged by AIDS, measles, malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases of poverty, medical libraries are notoriously under-equipped and the Internet is an unaffordable luxury for the vast majority of people. “The concept is simple,” according to Ladd. “If a doctor can get his hands on the treatment guidelines for malaria, he is going to do a better job treating the next child he sees with the disease.”

During the first phase of the project, SATELLIFE teamed up with the American Red Cross and its partners in the Measles Initiative (http://www.measlesinitiative.org) to conduct fast and accurate field surveys during an intensive national measles vaccination campaign in Ghana. Thirty Ghanaian Red Cross volunteers -- many of whom had never even seen a computer -- were trained to interview the adults, primarily women, who brought children in to be vaccinated and entered the data into handheld computers. The volunteers completed over 2,400 field surveys in just 3 days, where a traditional pen and paper survey would have yielded approximately 200 surveys.

“This technology made it possible for us to gather important data that can make future measles vaccination campaigns even more effective,” said Dr. Mark Grabowsky, senior technical for the American Red Cross. “We were also able to look at important health indicators for each family and process the information instantly, which is unprecedented for this type of epidemiological data. The Ministry of Health of Ghana received a report that it can use to form strategies for immunization and treatment within hours, rather than weeks or months.”

During the second phase of the project SATELLIFE partnered with its sister organization, the non-profit HealthNet Uganda, and with Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya, to equip doctors and medical students with handheld computers. SATELLIFE loaded each unit with treatment guidelines for AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, essential drug lists, and medical textbooks that otherwise would be completely inaccessible to the participants. The Medical textbooks were donated by Skyscape (http:// www.skyscape.com), a Massachusetts-based software company specializing in innovative, intelligent mobile solutions for the medical community. “The project reflects the enormous potential for utilizing handheld applications in dealing with global healthcare issues,” said RJ Mathew, vice president of marketing and business development at Skyscape, “And our work with SATELLIFE demonstrates how a successful public-private partnership can benefit humanity.”

The real power of SATELLIFE’s work is best reflected by the physicians in Africa who participated in the award-winning project. Dr. Robert Lukande, a tuberculosis specialist at the Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda said, “Medical books cost a fortune here in Uganda compared to the salary of a doctor. I can now access several books that I previously could not afford to buy. What an opportunity! I can now improve the way I manage my patients.”

Fred Kakaire of HealthNet Uganda is SATELLIFE’s Field Manager for this project and hopes that the Stockholm Challenge Award will directly benefit his people. “I hope this recognition focuses the world’s attention on the problems we face every day and makes it possible for us to give this technology to more of our doctors. Knowledge saves lives.”

About SATELLIFE

SATELLIFE is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to improve health in the world’s poorest nations through the innovative use of information technology. SATELLIFE has created HealthNet, a global information and communication network that provides knowledge resources on today’s most urgent health topics, affordable email, computer literacy training, and opportunities for dialogue and information exchange among health professionals throughout the developing world. For more information about SATELLIFE and its handheld computer project, please visit http://www.healthnet.org or contact Executive Director Holly Ladd at hladd@usa.healthnet.org or Director of Programs Rebecca Riccio at rriccio@usa.healthnet.org or (617) 926-9400.

About Acumen Fund

Acumen Fund is a non-profit organization that connects individual and corporate philanthropists with organizations that are developing innovative solutions to social problems around the world. Acumen Fund brings together the resources, ideas, and people needed for these organizations to create long-term, measurable impact. http://www.acumen fund.org

About American Red Cross

Launched in February 2001, the Measles Initiative is a long-term commitment to control measles deaths in Africa by vaccinating 200 million children and preventing 1.2 million deaths over five years. Leading this effort are the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Other key players in the fight against measles include the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - the world’s largest humanitarian network counting 100,000 million volunteers and countries and governments affected by measles. While the Measles Initiative is focused in Africa where the most measles-related deaths occur, partners also work on a wide-range of health initiatives around the world, including measles control and other vaccination services outside of Africa. For more information visit http://www.measlesinitiative.org or contact Julie Irby, International Communication, American Red Cross, 202-639-3512, irbyj@usa.redcross.org

About the Stockholm Challenge

The Stockholm Challenge is a unique awards program for pioneering IT projects in the categories of e-government, culture, health, education, e-business, and the environment. The Challenge mission is to help people share knowledge and experience in the field of applied technology and to learn from the accomplishments of others. The project is sponsored and hosted each year by the city of Stockholm. This year, nearly 600 entries from over 78 countries were received. Winners are selected by international expert juries. For more information, please visit http://www.challenge.stockholm.se/index.html