SMS Helped Check Bird Flu in Orissa

In order to check the spread of avian flu in Orissa, India, state government officials have instituted the use of the short message service (SMS) tool of communication, a capability of hand-held digital devices - in this circumstance, cellphones - to help increase transmission speed of alerts and execute the necessary precautionary measures.


The state’s animal husbandry and veterinary services (AHD) introduced the ‘SMS-based reporting system’ in the department a year ago (2007) to track the health of livestock and breeding services in the state, according to the service's director. Under this system, the officials codified villages and prevailing livestock diseases to source data from about 10,000 officials, including 2,000 veterinary doctors, working across the state. The animal husbandry field staff, working at the grassroots level, send weekly reports via cellphone using SMS capacity to their directorate, which compiles the data for a consolidated weekly report for critical analysis and a response of appropriate remedial measures.


With this system, the AHD has been collecting reports from the field on the status of birds and sending responses. It can also monitor staff performance using the system and detect cases of negligence of duty. According to this report, the government monitored about a million poultry, as well as 28 million cattle, in the villages bordering West Bengal through cellphone reporting. This is a geographical area of particular concern because bird flu resulted in the loss of Rs.5 billion in the neighbouring state of West Bengal.


The director of the AHD claims that the system has reduced the gap between the field functionaries and decision-makers, and this has led to better governance." He found that this system, though it met with some initial resistance from staff, provides a transparency that encourages the field staff to communicate openly, which has established an increased sense of accountability. He states that feedback from the field staff is that their active participation through SMS has empowered them."