HP has announced it has donated 500 HP iPAQ Travel Companions with GPS technology, valued at approximately $300,000, to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), supporting the establishment and operation of a public health surveillance and evaluation effort in earthquake-affected Sichuan Province.
The donation increases the total HP contribution to Sichuan earthquake relief and recovery initiatives to more than $3 million (RMBY 21.46 million).
The new effort uses a survey platform called FAST GIS (Field Adapted Survey Toolkit for Geographic Information System-enabled data collection) that is based on personal digital assistants like the HP iPAQ and global positioning system (GPS) technology.
Supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC), FAST GIS will enable China CDC health workers to track and prevent the spread of infectious diseases among earthquake survivors, and to assess injuries and disabilities in order to rebuild the public health system in a manner that best serves the population.
"HP and its employees have a long history of helping those in need," said Isaiah Cheung, vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group, HP China and Hong Kong. "The public health surveillance system, supported by HP iPAQ Travel Companions with GPS navigation technology, will go a long way toward preventing Sichuan earthquake survivors from suffering additional pain due to disease."
"The China CDC is working hard to prevent the spread of disease and ensure an adequate public health response in earthquake-affected areas," said Dr. Yu Wang, director, China CDC. "We are grateful to HP for its contributions and support, which are helping to advance the quality of public health in Sichuan."
According to China's Ministry of Public Health, the control and prevention of infectious disease is of utmost importance during the first three months after an earthquake. Dr. Wang said that China CDC will use the HP iPAQ devices to conduct health surveys of earthquake survivors in clinics and shelters, and then send the gathered information to the China CDC's information center.
There, public health workers will analyze the collected data and assess the epidemic risk to make the time-sensitive intervening actions necessary to effectively prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Charles Stokes, president and chief executive officer of the CDC Foundation, the non-governmental organization of the U.S. CDC that helped facilitate the HP donation, said, "We were honored to help make this international partnership possible and are confident that this combination of public health science and consumer technology will help save lives and improve health in China's earthquake-affected regions."
