This project is motivated by the widespread of cholera in some of the key cities in Cameroon these recent months.

 The project aims at advocating for government and  social actors to take necessary measures to stop the frightful advancement of the disease which is fast getting into an epidemic dimension.

 The government does not and has not taken any measure to evaluate the actual state of the problem on the field, with thousands of victims already registered, leaving many dead.

 From a field studies conducted in September 2010, we discovered that the causes of the disease are as a result of and not limited to:  

*Lack of portable water;

*Absence of good toilets;

*Lack of a good drainage system;

*Ignorance of the populations on preventive measures;

*Over flowing locally constructed latrines;

*Unhygienic disposal of waste in open air fields and beside public habitations;

In some highly populated quarters where toilets do not even exist in most of the houses, people have been seen defecating in nylon papers and dropping the waste in public gutters beside markets, schools and playgrounds.

Our Strategy

We will be using  Web 2.0 applications (Social network) with integrated APIs from; Youtube, Google Maps, Flickr, Twitter and Frontline SMS to mobilize citizens to engage voluntarily in advocating for government to take strict measures for the fight against cholera; and to assist the populations to promote  a cleaner and healthier environment.

 Through this platform, citizens will be requested to upload live pictures/videos with commentaries, describing the state of their neighborhood. They will be expected to denounce the presence of in hygienic pit toilettes, open air defecation hotspots, non disinfected wells, victims of cholera, unhealthy moves etc.

 The data collected, will be used to influence public decision taking, and motivate social partners to take action.

 Simultaneously, we will partnership with environmentalists and experts from the health sector to sensitize the populations on preventive measures in order to avert the disease, and make their environment healthier, using direct SMS, blogs and other online platforms.  

 The platform will show locations on Google Maps and on other platforms in relation to:

*Unhygienic toilettes;

*Overflowing pit toilettes;

*Open air concentration of household waste;

*Victims of cholera;

*Public gutters affected by the waste.

*Markets with poor hygienic conditions etc

 While mobilizing the different actors involved to sorting out the challenge, the platform will as well:  

 *Help those looking for houses to locate a healthier neighborhood, 

*Orientate stake holders (Ministry of Health, NGOs and investors to where the problem is; 

 *Avoid other citizens from contacting the diseases.

Locations