To Help Combat Infectious Diseases in Africa

Chung Myung-gon (far left), a director of KT, and Rashid Amman (second from left), vice health minister of Kenya hold pickets to publicize a platform for preventing the spread of infectious diseases at an event for the launch of Global Epidemic Prevention Platform (GEPP) Kenya.

KT announced on Dec. 8 that it held a launch event for Global Epidemic Prevention Platform Kenya (GEPP Kenya) in Kenya's capital of Nairobi on Dec. 6. GEPP Kenya is the first case where a Korean company enters Kenya's national quarantine service. The official local service name is “Sapiri Smart,” which means smart travel.

The platform works by exchanging data between the Kenyan Health Department and Kenya's first-ranked carrier, Safaricom. For example, when Kenyans visit the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Ebola broke out, they receive a text message code that allows them to access GEPP services via Safaricom. When they access GEPP Kenya by using the code, they can check information on Ebola infection, the symptoms of the infection and how to prevent the deadly epidemic. If an Ebola symptom arises, they can contact the National Quarantine Headquarters and receive a service number for early treatment. The platform will inform the National Quarantine Headquarters that they stayed in an Ebola-stricken country so that the headquarters will be able to manage them early and intensively.

In addition, GEPP Kenya collects and analyzes various data such as disease names, areas of ​​onsets, and exposure status, and provides big data for quarantine to the Kenyan Health Department. Mobile big data collected through GEPP Kenya will be used as basic data for Kenya's health policies, and related data is expected to come in handy as effective data to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in Kenya.

Meanwhile, KT signed a work agreement with Safaricom to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in 2017. In December 2018, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for GEPP Kenya, and the system was built for about one year. This is the third accomplishment following Ghana and Laos since KT declared that it would contribute to the promotion of global people’s health by utilizing KT technology at the 2016 General Assembly of the United Nations Global Compact or UNGC.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution