Cholera outbreaks can emerge suddenly and spread rapidly in rural communities where surveillance is weak. In Burundi’s cholera-prone regions, delays in reporting new cases have resulted in significant lags in response. In 2016, local health authorities partnered with UNICEF to equip community health workers with an SMS-based alert system. RapidPro Burundi enabled frontline volunteers to […]
Collecting timely patient feedback is critical for improving healthcare, yet many clinics still rely on slow, paper-based surveys. In Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), it was common for patient satisfaction data to be collected weeks or months after a visit. Around 2018, UNICEF partnered with the Ministry of Health to pilot a game-changing solution: RapidPro Eswatini surveys […]
Zimbabwe’s severe drought and COVID-19 lockdowns created an urgent need for innovative nutrition surveillance. With travel restrictions in place, health authorities could no longer rely on in-person data gathering. In this context, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health turned to an SMS-based system, RapidPro, for rapid and remote nutrition data collection. Community health workers and clinic staff, who […]
Uganda’s rural health system relies on thousands of community health workers (CHWs) to reach remote villages. However, coordinating messages and data among these dispersed CHWs is a major challenge. Stockouts of medicines and slow communications can delay care. In Chad, for example, UNICEF and the Ministry of Health deployed SMS alerts using the open-source RapidPro […]
Chad faces a persistent nutrition supply challenge that puts children’s lives at risk. Severe acute malnutrition is widespread, yet remote clinics often run out of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) due to funding gaps, difficult terrain, and poor communication. In late 2024, UNICEF warned Chad was on the brink of running out of RUTF entirely, a […]
In 2016, Mozambique faced a severe nutrition crisis amid a drought-driven emergency, yet only about 25% of health facilities were submitting their weekly nutrition reports on time. This data gap left authorities nearly blind to rising malnutrition cases, hindering timely response in communities where children’s lives were at stake. RapidPro nutrition monitoring emerged as the […]
Liberia’s health officials have long struggled to keep thousands of frontline staff informed, especially during emergencies. For example, at the start of the 2014 Ebola crisis, the Liberian government had no way to reach its 11,000+ health workers with urgent updates. Delayed or missing messages resulted in slower responses and increased infections. The RapidPro Liberia […]
In Somalia’s fragile recovery, giving citizens a voice is a major challenge. Years of conflict and drought left many Somali communities isolated, making it hard for NGOs and the government to collect grassroots feedback. Yet radio remains the most trusted news source, and mobile phones are increasingly common. By combining SMS and radio, RapidPro SMS Somalia […]
RapidPro U-Report Nigeria initiative is a striking example of mobile-based youth participation and digital engagement at scale. Launched under UNICEF Nigeria’s leadership in April 2014, the first U-Report SMS poll was sent to NYSC volunteers that month. With RapidPro’s no-code SMS platform powering the service, U-Report Nigeria quickly took off. Within two years, it had […]
RapidPro Gambia: Messaging at the Speed of a Crisis In emergencies, timely, trustworthy information is critical. When COVID-19 reached The Gambia in early 2020, it threatened already-strained health systems and core public services. Conventional channels for outreach and data capture couldn’t keep pace with a rapidly evolving outbreak. RapidPro Gambia stepped in to close that […]
