Health Technology in Indonesia

Delivering food and health services to communities affected by famine may pose difficulties if no proper means of communication about the communities needing help is available. Considering that Indonesia is an archipelago of around 18,000 islands, communication and transportation of food to the needy, community can prove to be tough for an organization, as well as providing health to these communities. In order to deliver food to those communities affected by famine in Indonesia, a complex information technology such as HealthMapper, GIS and SIGEpi software that are easy to use can be used since they are reliable in providing data that can aid in planning for food and health services delivery.

Taking UNICEF as the considered organization, the most appropriate communication technologies to use in delivering the food to the communities would be the use of software, Geographic Information Systems, which provide information about a place in terms of maps for locations of places, charts, graphs and tables of reports, which aid in interpreting information better. In order to develop a good communication network, knowledge of infrastructure, geographic locations of the islands and how accessible they are, as well as knowing the community itself is key in developing communications. These factors can easily be analyzed using the GIS, which has been widely used for the above purposes, to give a clear guide to the specific areas affected by famine, and responding with speed would be achieved. This is because GIS can provide baseline data such as the infrastructure, health back up around a particular area, which can tell the exact place that needs help, as well as allowing tracking of transportation.

To make the communication a network among all the dialects, the UNICEF would be need to establish centers that are run by the locals of a particular region, so that the people of the place can feel free to share information, and connect the organization offering the service to the people. UNICEF has done this in several countries, where it involved the locals in distributing food to the affected communities, in Indonesia it would serve to maintain a communication network in the country, and more so, in conjunction with the GIS and SIGEpi technology, UNICEF will be in a position to connect with other organizations such as the WHO and UN. With such baseline information provided by GIS and SIGEpi as well as the HealthMapper, response can be organized easily and fast, hence dealing with disasters would be easier for such organization.

In terms of multimedia, UNICEF has used several multimedia with the aim of creating awareness about food shortage, children and about disasters too. UNICEF has used mediums such as television, and internet videos to reach out many people. In addition, UNICEF has added extra effort to bring locals of Indonesia for language transitions, and asked them to volunteer their services. UNICEF easily teams up with the government to provide services in case of emergencies, such as earthquakes, where it offers help to the children, and goes a mile further to ensure children are well breast-fed. To make their communication more efficient, UNICEF can use GIS as a medium of communication to serve the many dialects since it provides information on education, which can better help UNICEF locate qualified members to work for it. In addition, in order to serve a wider dialect, the internet sites for UNICEF can have several languages that can be understood by these communities. UNICEF can make use of non-electronic media to reach areas that may not be reached by electronic media, and at the same time, it would serve the same purpose. Through these types of media services, UNICEF can manage to enlighten many people about the issues affecting Indonesia, encourage people to make donations, and enlighten people on how to handle or respond to such disasters. With this type of technology, GIS, communication of disaster will be easy, and response will be timely, and accurate.

References:

GIS. (2011). Who uses GIS. Retrieved from http://gis.com/