WiRED Launches Breakthrough Health Module Access Program (HealthMAP)
BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW; EDITED BY BERNICE BORN
O
pening up access to its materials for millions more people, WiRED International just took a major technological leap forward. Its innovative Health Module Access Program (HealthMAP) can now deliver free health education training material to underserved communities in the world’s most distant locations, many of which have limited or no online access.
HealthMAP will enable clinicians, healthcare workers, medical schools and members of the general public to select and download health education modules from WiRED’s Health Learning Center. They can install these modules on their computers and create their own customized libraries for personal study and for presentations to community groups that lack online capability. Also, HealthMAP will launch WiRED’s global outreach effort to make modules available to nongovernmental organizations, hospitals, health ministries and other institutions that address community health matters.
Interview with Christopher Spirito
HealthMAP was designed and developed by WiRED International Board Member Christopher Spirito. His daughter, WiRED Staff Writer Olivia Spirito, talked with Chris to find out how he started working with WiRED and what his vision is for this new program.
Read Olivia's interview with Chris here.
HealthMAP is the brainchild of WiRED Board Member and programmer analyst, Christopher Spirito (see interview), who built the application from scratch. He explained, “This new program runs on the Windows and Macintosh systems to sync to our server and view our entire e-library of 400+ available modules. Users can then select the modules that they are most interested in, and, with the click of a button, download them automatically. HealthMAP is a tremendous step for WiRED.”
About 85 percent of the communities WiRED serves have only intermittent Internet access, and an even higher percentage cannot access the Net in locations where health workers conduct group training, such as in remote parts of the Amazon, in the mountains of Eurasia and in the slums and faraway regions of Africa. HealthMAP is the bridge that can deliver WiRED training to offline communities in remote regions.
WiRED Director Gary Selnow, Ph.D., said, “Bridging the gap of that last mile — the distance between the last Internet connection and the target population — has always been a challenge for us, as it is for many health educators. This powerful new HealthMAP program will give us the capacity to deliver a wealth of medical and health training programs to people in off-the-grid regions, people in greatest need of a fundamental understanding of critical health issues, including prevention, signs and symptoms identification and methods of treatment. Our tests have been remarkably encouraging; we look forward to using this tool to advance our organizational mission to bring health education, free of charge, to underserved communities around the world.”
Watch WiRED’s HealthMAP Animation for an engaging step-by-step visual guide on how to download this program.
HealthMAP FAQs
Q: What is HealthMAP?
A: The Health Access Module Program, or HealthMAP, is a breakthrough software package that delivers WiRED’s health education training material to underserved communities that have only intermittent Internet connections. HealthMAP is a new way for you to load WiRED’s interactive, health modules directly to your computer and use them offline.
Q: What’s unique about HealthMAP?
A: HealthMAP ensures that you don’t need a steady Internet connection to use, study or present group training sessions with WiRED modules. The HealthMAP program allows you to download modules to your computer in order to build your own personal health library. Moreover, with a few clicks, you can prepare thumb drives to share your library with others.
Q: Why is WiRED offering HealthMAP?
A: HealthMAP expands the opportunity for millions of people around the world to access WiRED’s health training modules, thus contributing to our mission to provide health education material to low resource communities. We anticipate that local clinics and hospitals, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), medical schools and others in low-resource regions will find this resource to be particularly helpful.
Q: What can HealthMAP do for me as a physician, nurse or community health worker?
A: You can take HealthMAP with you anywhere you go! The program will enable clinicians as well as members of the general public to select and download health education modules from WiRED’s Health Learning Center — and use them offline. Users can create their own customized libraries for personal study and for presentations to community groups that lack online capability.
Q: How much does HealthMAP cost?
A: HealthMAP is FREE! WiRED’s volunteers offer ALL of its programs FREE of charge.
Q: How do I get the modules I want?
A: To install HealthMAP on your computer, go to http://www.wiredinternational.org/WiREDHealthMAP.html and follow the easy directions for either Windows or Mac. You can browse WiRED’s 400+ health education modules by latest module or by topic, select the modules you want and copy your customized library to a flash drive to share with others.
Q: Is HealthMAP safe to download to my computer?
A: Yes! The software is entirely safe for your computer. Moreover, we ask for no personal information and do not track users.
Q: How did WiRED offer the modules before HealthMAP?
A: Before HealthMAP, users needed a continuous Internet connection, which meant that people with only occasional connections were at a great disadvantage. Now, they can load the health modules on their computers and use them entirely offline. In many countries where we work, fully 85% of people have little access to regular Internet service. Now, they don’t need it! In a few minutes, they can get the modules, then use them without a further connection.
Q: What is the HealthMAP Animation?
A: The animation offers a colorful visual guide to using HealthMAP and explains its purpose and application. Click here to go directly to the HealthMAP Animation.
Q: What else will HealthMAP do?
A: HealthMAP will launch WiRED’s global outreach effort to make modules available to hospitals, NGOs, health ministries and other institutions that address community health matters from everyday health to pandemics.
How to Download the HealthMAP Software
It’s fast and easy to create your own health education e-library!
1. Click this Web Address:
http://wiredinternational.org/WiREDHealthMAP.html
2. Read through the instructions, then click on either the symbol or the download button.
3. Following the instructions will place the HealthMAP program on your computer and allow you to download any of WiRED’s health education modules safely and for free.
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