The Amazonas State Health Department in Brazil will be the first to use the solution as part of its fight against dengue fever in the city of Manaus in Northern Brazil.

The Nokia Data Gathering software will be available to public sector organizations and NGOs free of charge. It can be used to create tailored questionnaires and distribute them to multiple mobile phones using a normal mobile network.

Field personnel surveying local conditions can quickly complete the questionnaires and immediately transmit their findings to a central database. The system also allows organizations to geo-tag data with GPS location information to build a more detailed picture of very local conditions.

"Sound decisions are based on the analysis of fresh, accurate data. However, for organizations with a remote or mobile workforce, this is easier said than done. Information related to health, agriculture and environmental conditions is often recorded on paper, transported, and transcribed, in a process that can take months and result in errors. Nokia Data Gathering aims to improve accuracy and deliver information in near real-time, helping decision-makers to improve the delivery of social services," said Gregory Elphinston, Director of Community Involvement at Nokia.

Accurate and timely information is essential when monitoring the effectiveness of disease prevention measures and preventing further outbreaks.

This is the basis for the deployment of Nokia Data Gathering in Brazil by the Amazonas State Health Department, SUSAM (Secretaria de Estado de Saude do Amazonas), which will be using the solution to monitor outbreaks of disease and the effectiveness of prevention programs in the city of Manaus.

Commencing in October 2008, 50 SUSAM field personnel equipped with Nokia E61 and Nokia E71 devices will take to the street in the metropolitan region of Manaus focusing initially on dengue fever.

The program will then be expanded in 2009 to cover the whole State of Amazonas, with SUSAM's 600 field agents gathering data on the fight against dengue fever, malaria and yellow fever.

"The Secretaria de Saude do Amazonas has a series of programs dealing with endemic diseases in the region, and Nokia's technology will help us to more rapidly identify and investigate the results and symptoms of the surveyed population," said Agnaldo Costa, State Health Secretary of Amazonas State.

"The transmission of information immediately after the interviews gives us improved agility, increases public safety, and avoids the manual filling-in of forms which is usually a difficult and time-consuming process."

"This solution demonstrates the real potential of mobile communications to deliver social benefits," Greg Elphinston of Nokia continued.

"The more time-critical the information, and the more remote the location, the more organizations have to gain from a mobile phone based solution. We expect Nokia Data Gathering to be especially beneficial in collecting information in the health, agriculture, emergency services, censuses and environmental conservation sectors."

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