Bulk SMS used in fight against Swine Flu
Bulk SMS is being used in an attempt to both contain and combat Swine Flu in the United States. Although some of the initial public panic around Swine Flu seems to have died down, more people are becoming infected throughout the U.S. every day; a country that now has the second highest infection rate in the world.
U.S. health officials estimate that Swine Flu has already infected as many as 1 million Americans. Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert said that, “we knew that diagnosed cases were just the tip of the iceberg.” Swine Flu has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization as it has been confirmed in more than 80,000 people around the world and at least 400 people have died from it.
This is the first pandemic to be declared by the World Health Organization in more than forty years. The virus spread to the US from Mexico in April this year and by the end of June, more than 700 schools in the country had been shut down due to outbreaks of Swine Flu. The U.S government has allocated over $350 million to fight the H1N1 Swine Flu virus and are hoping that a vaccine will be available by October this year.
In this campaign, US citizens can text PIGFLU to 41411 and receive regular updates about Swine Flu. Sponsored by cellphones.org as a public service, the only charge is the regular cost of receiving text messages. Bulk SMS messages will be sent to subscribers with World Health Organization updates, information about new outbreaks and information from national health authorities.
Bulk SMS could be used in a variety of ways in attempts to combat and contain this virus. The benefits offered by mobile text messaging over traditional methods include the cost and time saving nature of the medium. Health officials and emergency response team leaders can send thousands of text messages at the same time to personnel at a fraction of what it would cost to call them. Because a single text message can be sent instantaneously to an entire team, regardless of their location, the time saved in a crucial situation could make the difference between life and death.
Text messages are easily trackable, delivery can be verified and they can be escalated to the next viable contact point. Managers can easily send once-off bulk dispatches or batches of text messages according to trigger words and even personalize the text messages if need be. Other uses for bulk SMS includes competitions, marketing campaigns, notifications or real-time transaction alerts and automatic responses.
Any organization that needs to send high volume, time-sensitive messages, should consider their bulk SMS options.
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