Foundation News

Project Masiluleke streaks past the billion Call Back Tag mark!

06.06.2011

Project Masiluleke, which uses mobile technology to bring HIV and AIDS information and services to South Africans, has streaked past the billion Call Back Tag mark.

This collaborative initiative - which sees Praekelt Foundation partner with PopTech, MTN SA Foundation, the National AIDS Helpline, iTeach, and Frog Design - uses MTN Call Backs to tag potentially life-saving information.

Says Gustav Praekelt, founder of the Praekelt Foundation, "As far as we know, this is the largest scale use of mobile messaging around HIV and AIDS in the world – especially when it comes to Call Backs. Reaching the billion Call Back tag mark is especially exciting as the Call Back is a South African innovation and we're really excited about the ability of this mobile technology to reach every South African with a mobile phone."

Praekelt's words are echoed by Angie Maloka, Portfolio Manager: Health at MTN SA Foundation. "MTN Foundation is proud to be part of this remarkable project using mobile technology to provide education and life saving information on HIV and AIDS reaching even remote and rural areas of SA," she comments.

Key to the success of Project Masiluleke is Praekelt Foundation's partnership with a number of South African and US-based partners. These include:

MTN South Africa which donated the billion Call Backs to Project Masiluleke.
The National AIDS Helpline, whose number appear in the Call Back messages, and whose counsellors answer thousands of calls every day, to assist South Africans with relevant, accurate information and referrals for HIV and TB-related questions.
iTEACH which develops the HIV/AIDS and TB content with which the Call Backs are tagged.
US-based PopTech which provided seed-funding to launch the project, and brought the project partners together, through their Accelerator program
US-based Frog Design which works closely with iTeach and other partners on the concept of a self-test kit for HIV/AIDS, and designing a suitable prototype that can be tested in the field in South Africa.

Contact
Marcha Neethling
Praekelt Foundation
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 413 2002
Email: marcha@praekeltfoundation.org
Website: http://praekeltfoundation.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/praekeltfoundation
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/praekeltfound

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