Zinto's cellphone donation helps to prevent and control the spread of malaria

A study related to this programme involves tracking the rollout of the spraying, and its success relies solely on contributions and sponsorships from external parties. Zinto is actively involved in private and public partnerships that support social upliftment and development resulting in a positive impact on communities, and the smartphone donation forms part of their corporate social investment.

The smartphones will allow researchers to test a GPS-enabled cellphone method (CalFit) that monitors the indoor residual spraying and collects accurate data to determine chemical use. All data is stored on the Android application and can be transferred over the Internet to a secure server where the data is analysed in real-time. The GPS coordinates enable mapping the spray plans, while the time stamps help monitor the frequency of spraying in different households.

Michelle Combrinck, CEO and founder of Zinto comments, "We have come on board to support this cause because this kind of partnership is pivotal in the fight against malaria. Each year, more than 250 million cases of malaria are reported worldwide, killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children. We got involved because no infant or person should become infected when there is a clear and available programme to prevent the spread of malaria."

Brenda Eskenazi, principal investigator of the Vhembe pilot study says, "I would like to personally thank Michelle Combrinck from Zinto for her incredibly generous donation of 10 cellphones to the malaria control project to support our pilot study. We are very grateful for the contribution."

For more information visit www.zinto.co.za.