Despite efforts by Kenyan corporates, little has been achieved in the fight against breast cancer. Breast cancer is fast becoming the most common type of cancer affecting both the developed and developing worlds. Breast cancer can affect both women and men and during this duration of breast cancer awareness month a lot of health clinics have come up offering free screenings and sensitization on the same.

According to our recent findings which were centered in Kenya, 23% of the respondents still believe that only women are prone to cancer. This means that a lot of men will most likely not be seeking screening services as they believe it is not a threat to their health.

Advanced cases of breast cancer have seen a lot of patients lose mostly one or two of their breasts and this has always sparked several conversations in both the married and single communities on how serious mastectomy is.

In the month of October, several hospitals in Kenya came forward and had media campaigns running sensitizing Kenyans on the dangers of late detection and how early screenings could save lives and in return offered free screenings. Whether the campaigns were effective was a split of 48% people saying that they were aware that their locals had free screenings while a good 52% had no clue.

All in all Kenya is in the-know with regard to breast cancer although more sensitization on the male demographic would help achieve more awareness and detection

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Rwanda TV dominates the Rwandan TV market while TV1 comes in a distant second, experiencing its highest peak between 20:30 to 21:30.  Rwanda TV was for a long time the only TV station in the country and has managed to retain its core audience.  Due to the limited number of TV stations in Rwanda, 60% of the top stations are international stations, including Canal+, France24 and BBC. 

GeoPoll also examined average share over the entire period from April 1st – June 30th. GeoPoll found that on average, 5 out of 10 Rwandese who are currently watching TV are tuned into Rwanda TV. TV 1 and TV 10 come in at 2^nd and 3^rd, and command a combined share of 24%.  TV 1, which only began airing last year, has gained a considerable share for a relatively new channel. Full results are below:

**Share is the proportion watching Station X, out of all those watching at that time. This is equal to the proportion watching a station during a given time divided by the total number watching at that time.

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The Ebola crisis in West Africa has brought together aid organizations, governments and private companies from all over the world, which are donating resources and expertise to fight the spread of the disease. And although the outbreak is not yet over, progress is being made.

But one of the most difficult things for these organizations to access has been data. Access to reliable data is imperative in humanitarian situations — it can track the spread of disease or disaster, helps on-the-ground workers track the awareness and perceptions of their response, and assesses long-term impact after aid workers have left. Data is hard to come by during disaster situations, however, and countries most affected by crises often don’t have a robust system of data reporting. It can be difficult for researchers to access areas due to disease outbreak, damaged infrastructure or dangerous security situations.

In spite of these challenges, there are several ways technology and data have been brought together to fight the Ebola crisis — some organizations use mapping data to track spread of disease, others let people report Ebola-related issues through mobile phones. At GeoPoll, we have worked with organizations including the World Food Program and Keystone Accountability to collect data through remote mobile phone surveys that can be used to help target aid distribution and inform on-the-ground workers of citizen perceptions. GeoPoll issues surveys through SMS or voice messages, allowing organizations to quickly gather information nationally or from key areas, which can then be viewed and analyzed in real time.

With WFP, GeoPoll has been conducting monthly surveys on food security in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Food insecurity is one of the biggest secondary risks of Ebola, as the disease has driven food prices up and made areas with high poverty rates even more dependent on outside aid.

Through remote mobile surveys, WFP was able to get a high-level understanding of the food security situation, finding that, especially in the Ebola epicenters, it was considered “severe” for many.

In November 2014 WFP released the first report of data collected using GeoPoll surveys, reporting that the Reduced Coping Strategy Index, a way to measure the severity of the behaviors households engage in when faced with crises, was high in areas hit hardest by Ebola, including Kailahun and Kenema in Sierra Leone. Over 80 percent of respondents in these areas reported consuming less expensive or preferred foods, and 75 percent reported needing to reduce the number of meals per day and portion sizes due to a lack of food.

The ongoing reports created from remote mobile surveys have been published by WFP’s mVAM unit, and data is being used to target aid and create awareness around the risks of food insecurity in crisis areas.

GeoPoll has also been working with Keystone Accountability’s Ground Truth Solutions team to survey citizens throughout Sierra Leone on the perceptions of the Ebola response and attitudes toward checkpoints, quarantine and welcoming Ebola survivors back into communities. This information is crucial for on-the-ground workers, as it gives them a real idea of how citizens view their progress.

We have been collecting data weekly and biweekly since December 2014, and the data truly does reflect the situation in Sierra Leone. The week of Dec. 3, 70.8 percent of the 350 respondents said they believed the Ebola response was making progress against the spread of the disease. This percentage climbed up steadily as the number of new cases went down, and in the week of Feb. 10, 86.5 percent believed the response was making progress. However, we saw this number decline to 80.2 percent in the week of March 10, and 84.8 percent the week of March 26.

Why is this? We found that the perceptions of the progress went down in early March as cases spiked in Freetown, and transport restrictions that had been stopped were reinstated. Other data points show that between 54 and 60 percent of respondents say people are worried about harassment at checkpoints, and over 70 percent report that people are scared to visit health facilities for non-Ebola related illnesses.

The value of this data is huge. One agency has used this data to request additional funding for quarantine supplies, and another has increased their investment in educational programs surrounding the stigma of Ebola. In addition, it is an excellent example of sharing resources and partnering for more effective development, as both Keystone and GeoPoll have made the data publicly available on our websites so that other organizations can take advantage of the findings.

Data provides increased awareness and knowledge of humanitarian situations, and allows NGOs and governments to act quickly based on accurate, timely information. In keeping with effective development cooperation as defined by the Busan principles, such data helps create transparent and equitable development, as well as ensuring a strong focus on results.

As the Ebola crisis continues, and even after the current outbreak has subsided, data will show the global community long-term effects of the disease, and eventually will inform how governments, organizations and citizens can work together to manages crises better in the future.

This article was originally published on Devex in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. Read more expert comment at http://devcooperation.org. 

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This month we started a 3-month round of data collection in the 3 countries looking at food security in Ebola epicenters and the surrounding areas. Mobile data collection allows for research to be done in areas which can’t be accessed by on-the-ground researchers, which is why the WFP has parterned with GeoPoll to send food security surveys through text and voice messages. The first results, from Sierra Leone, were released earlier this month, and demonstrate that people in the two Ebola epicenters are worse off in terms of food security and wages than in the surrounding areas.

Those living in Kailahun and Kenema have higher scores on the reduced Coping Strategies Index, indicating they use severe food coping strategies more often, restricting portion size and buying less expensive food more than those in neighboring regions.  The wages for casual workers in these two areas are also significantly less than in the rest of the country, likely affecting the food security situation.  You can read the full report on the food security sitation in Sierra Leone here, and check back for data from Guinea and Liberia, which will be released in the next few weeks.

The post Ebola’s Impact on Food Security: A GeoPoll-WFP Analysis appeared first on GeoPoll.

During the summit, President Obama announced a 33 billion dollar investment in the African economy, but even more important are local African entrepreneurs who are working each day to create jobs and improve their countries’ economies.  One of the most unique characteristics of many African countries is their strong youth population: Africa as a whole has over 200 million youth aged 15-24, making it the youngest continent in the world. And young Africans are making sure they are involved with changing and developing their home. Forbes recently published an article on the Top 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs in Africa. These entrepreneurs aren’t waiting for someone else to step in and solve their problems. They are being proactive and coming up with solutions on their own.

Ecopost Kenya, founded by Lorna Rutto, collects plastic waste and converts it to eco-friendly plastic lumber. Rutto is aiming to solve the issues of recycling and deforestation that are common in Africa by developing an eco-friendly alternative.

Skydrop Enterprises, founded by Joel Mwale, is a rainwater filtration and bottling company. Although in the Western world bottled water is extremely common (there are over 100 water bottle companies in the U.S. alone), the global reality is one in eight people in the world lacks access to clean water to meet their basic needs, and bottling clean water can provide affordable and drinkable water to those who need it.

Cardipad, founded by Arthur Zang, is a touch screen medical tablet which can run heart examinations. Access to basic healthcare services such as screenings can be limited in remote areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Zang’s solution allows for heart examinations and remote readings to be done in rural areas.

While local entrepreneurs have a unique advantage in that they know the true needs of their communities, starting a business in a continent that does not always have regular electricity, and where internet connections can be scarce is a challenge new businesses in Africa face. Power supplies in Africa can be limited and even when people have access it is often unreliable and costly. Entrepreneurs in Kenya produced a solution for this with iHubs, innovation hubs which allow people to buy memberships and work in a reliable space to develop their businesses. iHubs are useful for those in the technology community and mobile app development, as they allow businesses to  conduct meetings and test products in a shared work environment. iHubs also allow entrepreneurs who are just starting out to run their businesses without incurring the typical costs of an office space.

Africa is a rapidly growing continent, especially in countries such as Nigeria and Tanzania where economies are booming. Young entrepreneurs in Africa are creating businesses to suit the needs of their customers, and it is easy to see how many of these innovations could be used throughout the rest of the world as well. It is just a matter of time before we see these entrepreneurs’ innovations and technological innovations on the global stage.

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Mobile technology has come such a long way since its development in the 1970’s. In just the past decade, the advancement mobile technology has made is astonishing. In the western world, our smartphones do everything for us; schedule meetings, manage our bank accounts, check Facebook, even pay for our Starbucks. The list keeps going, and it seems there isn’t anything our phones cannot do. If our phones can do all that, shouldn’t they be able to help us with our health?

Healthcare has always and will always be an important issue in the world, for good reason. Being active and eating the right food is vital to maintaining a healthy body and protecting yourself from illness. In America, citizens are increasingly struggling with obesity, but modern medical and phone technology are advancing every day, making it easier to stay healthy. With new technology and apps, our phones can make it easier to manage our health and weight loss, with apps that can calculate BMI, track fitness, or remind you of a diet plan. Tech giants like Google and Apple are pairing up to “reinvent” healthcare: Apple’s new app, Health Kit, combines all the features offered on multiple apps for monitoring your health in one hub. Apple is also partnering with the Mayo Clinic to notify your doctor if your blood pressure rises above normal levels. It appears a lot of cell phone giants are also joining the health app bandwagon, including Samsung, who has developed a fitness band, the Gear Fit.

In developed nations a majority of health concerns are not life threatening, but when looking at developing nations, having access to healthcare could mean life or death. There is a growing trend in these countries to use mobile phones to improve access to medicine or doctors, and educate on general medical knowledge. In Africa, over 80% of people own cell phones. App developers are taking advantage of this growing market by creating applications for “dumb” phones, cellphones which have few advanced features. In Zambia, the Ministry of Health is pairing with IBM to improve the health care system through IBM MobileFirst, which will allow healthcare facility staff in three Zambian districts to use mobile devices to scan barcodes to record and transmit medical stock. Not only will this allow better access to vital medication, but it will enhance the awareness of usage patterns of medications. In Bangladesh, mothers are using their phones to access health information and get weekly text updates on childcare. 

This kind of access to health information teaches people the importance of vaccines, check-ups, prenatal care, postnatal care, and general medical knowledge, and can improve the lives of millions of people. A recent poll GeoPoll ran highlights the importance and desperate need for better healthcare in Africa. GeoPoll ran surveys in 10 African countries asking respondents “Did anyone in your family need to see a doctor in the last 7 days?” Over 52% of respondents said yes. Everyone knows that developing countries need better access to healthcare and drugs, and with mobile technology growing it seems hopeful new apps can provide a solution. The kind of healthcare access apps provide can change the lives of many people in developing nations, and the difference mobile technology will make in these emerging markets will be exciting to witness.

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For over two months GeoPoll has been asking respondents in these 10 countries basic questions that get at some of the most important issues faced by many African nations. Questions like, “In the last 7 days, did any members of your household go to bed hungry”, “Did you have continuous power at your home yesterday”, and “Did anyone in your family need to see a doctor in the last 7 days”. These questions give us a snapshot look into the daily lives of many Africans, and GeoPoll’s full dataset can be used to compare answers in not only different countries, but also between genders and ages. Below we have shared some highlights of our findings from almost 17,000 respondents, and next week we’ll share data on healthcare, trust in media, and mobile money:

Food Security:

Our food security question asks respondents “In the last 7 days, did any members of your household go to bed hungry? 1) Yes 2) No”. While this question doesn’t get to some of the intricacies of food security, which we explore more in depth with our food security product, it does provide a simple, uncomplicated answer regarding hunger.  Over all 10 countries, out of almost 17,000 respondents 34% responded yes. We found that the percentage was highest in Rwanda, where 44% reported that they or a member of their family had gone to bed hungry in the past 7 days, and lowest in Malawi, where only 26% said the same.  That Rwanda struggles so much with hunger is not surprising, given that 37% in Rwanda live in extreme poverty.

Energy:

Continuous access to power is one of the most important factors in a nation’s growth, as energy is essential for starting and running small businesses, hospitals, and governments. Many countries in Africa have unreliable energy at best, and rural areas often have no access to power sources. Even in large cities such as Nairobi, blackouts are commonplace.  GeoPoll asked respondents “Did you have continuous power at your home yesterday? 1) Yes 2) No” to get a sense of energy issues throughout Africa. We found the power grid to be the least reliable in Rwanda, where 65% of respondents did not have continuous energy the day before, and Nigeria, where 60% said the same.  In South Africa, the most developed of the nations surveyed, only 32% did not have continuous power the day before.

Next week we will be posting another blog which will include findings on Mobile Money, Health, and Media trust in Africa. Be sure to check back, and follow us on twitter @GeoPoll for more updates on GeoPoll surveys!

Image: Africa at night, source: Wikimedia. 

The post Simple Questions, Powerful Answers on Energy, Health & Media in Africa: Part 1 appeared first on GeoPoll.

A new report by the UN International Telecommunications Union found that while fixed-line telephone connections have been declining over the past five years, mobile penetration is growing fast, particularly in developing areas, and the number of mobile subscriptions is expected to surpass seven billion this year.  By taking advantage of these connections, we can reach people more quickly, to drive action on food security that is faster and more targeted.

In just the past few weeks, GeoPoll has been asking simple questions on important topics like health, energy, and food security to mobile users in six African nations: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.  On food security, defined as reliable access to affordable and nutritious food, users were asked “In the last 7 days, did any members of your household go to bed hungry? Reply 1) Yes 2) No.” This one-line question, asked every day to a sample of users, gives us vital information on not only how many people are suffering from hunger, but also where they are, what ages and genders are more likely to be affected, and how food security changes in a region over time.

The results from just two weeks of data collection can already provide high-level insights into the differences in food security across countries, and as the survey continues to run it will collect data that can be broken down by district, age, gender, and more, for a truly granular look into hunger in a country. From the data that has already been collected, we get a snapshot look into the lives of those living in hunger.  For example, it was found that 39% of respondents across Kenya reported that they or a member of their family had gone to bed hungry in the past week, and 34% of Ghanaians said the same.  This data allows us to more accurately identify which countries or regions are in need of immediate assistance, and enables aid organizations or governments to deliver supplies quickly.  

As this survey collects more data over the next months, it will demonstrate when food security changes suddenly: this can occur when a region enters its dry season, or if a conflict has decreased access to food.  This type of daily data provides us with an unprecedented, granular look into global hunger, and will drive faster, more effective action from organizations like the WFP, who GeoPoll has worked with in the Democratic Republic of Congo and now in Kenya and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  We still have a long way to go in the fight against hunger, and the ultimate solution will include the alleviation of poverty through economic development, agricultural productivity, and policy reform.  Data is only a piece of this puzzle, but accurate information can play an important part in predicting trends on not only food security situations, but also poverty reduction, which will help us end hunger once and for all. 

 Amy Sweeney is the Director of Client Business Development at GeoPoll, where she collaborates with potential clients and partners such as the World Food Programme, USAID, and implementing partners on incorporating mobile data collection into projects and programs. She previously worked at Chemonics International and spent four years in Central and Southwest Asia, serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan and working in Afghanistan and Turkey.

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Of the top three channels, TV3 and UTV are both private, free-to-air channels, while GTV is the national public broadcaster in Ghana. TV3 launched in 1997 and includes news updates, reality TV, and other entertainment shows, while UTV is the newest television station in Ghana, and has a “24/7 line-up of well produced family entertainment dedicated to delivering informative and entertaining programming”.  We will be interested in seeing if UTV surpasses TV3 in viewership share in future months. The below list represents the audience distribution for the top channels in April: 

1. TV3: 18.49%
2. UTV: 18.44%
3. GTV: 14.75%
4. Visat1: 9.85%
5. AdomTV: 9.72%
6. Cine Afrik: 9.31%
7. JoyTV: 8.38%
8. MetroTV: 5.02%

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