Towards an SMS-based Social Network for Health Workers in Rural Areas in Myanmar

Seventy percent of the population in Myanmar lives in
rural areas. Although health workers are adequately trained,
they are overburdened due to understaffing and insufficient supplies.
Literature confirms that information and communication
technologies can extend the reach of healthcare. In this paper, we
present an SMS-based social network that aims to help health
workers to interact with other medical professionals through
topic-based message delivery. Topics describe interests of users
and the content of message. A message is delivered by matching
message content with user interests. Users describe topics as ICD-
10 codes, a comprehensive medical taxonomy. In this ICD-10
coded SMS, a set of prearranged codes provides a common language
for users to send structured information that fits inside an
SMS.