Following a visit by Imfundo staff to Tanzania in
October 2001, the team received a request from the DFID Office in Dar es
Salaam to see whether any of their partners might be able to help produce a CD
comprising digital versions of publications that had recently been produced by
the Malaria Control Programme of the Ministry of Health in the United Republic
of Tanzania. This material
included official manuals as well as a series of Shinda Malaria
magazines in Kiswahili that were designed to inform the public about malaria
and ways in which its transmission can be prevented.
The initial intention was simply to put digital versions of these
resources onto a CD so that it could be distributed readily to health
practitioners and others
 |
One of Imfundo’s partners, Atticmedia (www.atticmedia.org),
a new media company dedicated to producing high quality interactive
media, rose to the challenge, and began to shape a much more
ambitious vision. Rather than simply converting the documents into .pdf format,
they suggested that we should work together to use the enormous
potential of the media to enhance usability and interest in the
resources. They had
developed a browser for the UK’s Teacher Training Agency (www.tta.gov.uk),
and permission was kindly received from John Carr to use this in
facilitating access to the information contained in the official
manuals. Atticmedia
staff, particularly Anne Kotecha and Darshana Tailor, then converted
the Shinda Magazines into lively Flash animations. |
Meanwhile, as part of its commitment to
supporting diversity in the workplace, Imfundo had submitted a proposal to
make a place available on the team to a Windsor Fellow (see www.windsor-fellowship.org/).
This UK scheme offers talented ethnic minority undergraduates the opportunity
to gain skills and knowledge to compete effectively for positions as senior
managers and leaders within business, commerce and the public sector.
Through this scheme, Pooja Shah, who was studying medicine at Cambridge
University, joined the team, with one of her tasks being to prepare the
material in the official Tanzanian Government malaria manuals for inclusion in
the browser. Working with
Atticmedia staff, Pooja put the entire contents of Tanzania’s National
Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Uncomplicated and Severe Malaria,
in both Kiswahili and English, into the browser.
This enables the documents to be searched easily, and for users to
insert notes and bookmarks into the document.
Since the browser also has two windows, it is possible to have open
both diagnosis and treatment sections at the same time.
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