Science Journal of Public Health

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Developing Integrated Mobile Applications to Provide Culturally Responsive Support for Minnesota African Diaspora and West African Families Impacted by Ebola Virus Disease

Received: 30 March 2015    Accepted: 31 March 2015    Published: 10 April 2015
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Abstract

In recent years, Minnesota has witnessed a huge influx of immigrants from Africa. According to the 2008 Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy report, Minnesota has become the home of largest population of Somalian in the United States, and the home of the ninth largest population of African immigrants in America. It is estimated that between 70,000 and 80, 000 live in Minnesota. Somalia lead the way with about 37% of the African population followed by Ethiopia, 21%, Liberian, 12%, and Kenyan, 8% (Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, 2008). Consequently, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has impacted the lives of the Minnesota African Diaspora and their relatives living in Africa. The Minnesota African Taskforce Against Ebola (MATFAE) was created as a result of the strong desire among Africans in the Diaspora to address stigma associated with Ebola in Minnesota and provide needed supports to their relatives in Ebola impacted countries. This paper examines the development of a series of integrated mobile applications designed to foster collaboration between the Minnesota African Diaspora and their counterpart in Africa. The Mobile Apps could allow members of the African Diaspora and international community to engage with the Minnesota African Taskforce Against Ebola (MATFAE) as partners to address emergency preparedness and response issues. Those Apps could also serve as a platform for local and global community dialogues to improve health outcomes in Ebola impacted regions.

DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13
Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 3, Issue 3-1, May 2015)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatial Analysis and Mathematics in Health Research, During Times of Global Socio-Economic Instability

Page(s) 10-17
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

mHealth App, Emergency Preparedness, Ebola, Geo-Location, Human Centered Design, African Diaspora

References
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[2] Zahn, L. M. (2014). Evolution of ebola virus over time. Science, 345(6202), 1306-1306.
[3] Wolz, A. (2014). Face to face with ebola — an emergency care center in sierra leone. N Engl J Med, 371(12), 1081-1083. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1410179
[4] Brown, S. S. S. (2006). Can remittances spur development? A critical survey. International Studies Review, 8(1), 55-75.
[5] Page, J., Page, S., & Plaza. (2006). Migration remittances and development: A review of global evidence. Journal of African Economies, 15(suppl 2), 245-336. doi:10.1093/jae/ejl035
[6] Kaplan, W. A. A. (2006). Can the ubiquitous power of mobile phones be used to improve health outcomes in developing countries? Globalization and Health, 2(9), 9-9.
[7] Hersh, W., Margolis, A., Quiros, F., & Otero, P. (2010). Building a health informatics workforce in developing countries. Health Affairs (Project Hope), 29(2), 274-277. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0883
[8] Minnesota African Ebola Task force. The taskforce’s full report and recommendations are available at http://mnebolataskforce.com/ ; http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/workforce/iimg/finalrpt.pdf (PDF: 1747K/ 84 pages).
[9] Gronke, P. (2015). The Politics and Policy of Ebola. PS: Political Science & Politics, 48(01), 3-18.
[10] Pietrzak-Franger, M. M., & Holmes, M. S. (2014). Disease, communication, and the ethics of (in) visibility. Journal of bioethical inquiry, 11(4), 441-444.
[11] MN Ebola Task force Apps in Google App store. Android phones . Available at: www.play.google.com/store
[12] Broadman (2007) Connecting Africa and Asia is available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2007/06/broadman.htm.
[13] Erran Carmel (1999). Global Software Teams: Colloborating Across Borders and Time Zones. Prentice Hall PTR.
[14] Sharon Oviatt (2006). Human-centered design meets cognitive load theory: designing interfaces that help people think. Is available at Multimedia ‘06’ proceedings of the 14th annual ACM international conference on multimedia.
[15] MATFAE Community Members’ Mobile App. Available at: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Epimap247&c=apps
[16] Minnesota Department of Health. MDH. Available on the MDH: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/workforce/iimg/index.html
[17] Green, A. (2014). WHO and partners launch ebola response plan. Lancet (London, England), 384(9942), 481-481.
[18] Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases is available at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/org/globalhealth/alliance-chronic-diseases/index.htm
[19] Tracey, L. E., Regan, A. K., Armstrong, P. K., Dowse, G. K., & Effler, P. V. Letter to the editor: Management of patients with Ebola virus disease in Europe: high-level isolation units should have a key role Management of pregnant women infected with Ebola virus in a treatment centre in Guinea, June 2014.
[20] Arthur, J. A. (2000). Invisible sojourners: African immigrant diaspora in the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Author Information
  • Center for Design in Health, College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

  • Center for Design in Health, College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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  • APA Style

    Remi Douah, Anuj Kacker. (2015). Developing Integrated Mobile Applications to Provide Culturally Responsive Support for Minnesota African Diaspora and West African Families Impacted by Ebola Virus Disease. Science Journal of Public Health, 3(3-1), 10-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13

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    ACS Style

    Remi Douah; Anuj Kacker. Developing Integrated Mobile Applications to Provide Culturally Responsive Support for Minnesota African Diaspora and West African Families Impacted by Ebola Virus Disease. Sci. J. Public Health 2015, 3(3-1), 10-17. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13

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    AMA Style

    Remi Douah, Anuj Kacker. Developing Integrated Mobile Applications to Provide Culturally Responsive Support for Minnesota African Diaspora and West African Families Impacted by Ebola Virus Disease. Sci J Public Health. 2015;3(3-1):10-17. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13,
      author = {Remi Douah and Anuj Kacker},
      title = {Developing Integrated Mobile Applications to Provide Culturally Responsive Support for Minnesota African Diaspora and West African Families Impacted by Ebola Virus Disease},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {3},
      number = {3-1},
      pages = {10-17},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.s.2015030301.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.s.2015030301.13},
      abstract = {In recent years, Minnesota has witnessed a huge influx of immigrants from Africa. According to the 2008 Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy report, Minnesota has become the home of largest population of Somalian in the United States, and the home of the ninth largest population of African immigrants in America. It is estimated that between 70,000 and 80, 000 live in Minnesota. Somalia lead the way with about 37% of the African population followed by Ethiopia, 21%, Liberian, 12%, and Kenyan, 8% (Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, 2008). Consequently, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has impacted the lives of the Minnesota African Diaspora and their relatives living in Africa. The Minnesota African Taskforce Against Ebola (MATFAE) was created as a result of the strong desire among Africans in the Diaspora to address stigma associated with Ebola in Minnesota and provide needed supports to their relatives in Ebola impacted countries. This paper examines the development of a series of integrated mobile applications designed to foster collaboration between the Minnesota African Diaspora and their counterpart in Africa. The Mobile Apps could allow members of the African Diaspora and international community to engage with the Minnesota African Taskforce Against Ebola (MATFAE) as partners to address emergency preparedness and response issues. Those Apps could also serve as a platform for local and global community dialogues to improve health outcomes in Ebola impacted regions.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AU  - Remi Douah
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    AB  - In recent years, Minnesota has witnessed a huge influx of immigrants from Africa. According to the 2008 Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy report, Minnesota has become the home of largest population of Somalian in the United States, and the home of the ninth largest population of African immigrants in America. It is estimated that between 70,000 and 80, 000 live in Minnesota. Somalia lead the way with about 37% of the African population followed by Ethiopia, 21%, Liberian, 12%, and Kenyan, 8% (Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, 2008). Consequently, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has impacted the lives of the Minnesota African Diaspora and their relatives living in Africa. The Minnesota African Taskforce Against Ebola (MATFAE) was created as a result of the strong desire among Africans in the Diaspora to address stigma associated with Ebola in Minnesota and provide needed supports to their relatives in Ebola impacted countries. This paper examines the development of a series of integrated mobile applications designed to foster collaboration between the Minnesota African Diaspora and their counterpart in Africa. The Mobile Apps could allow members of the African Diaspora and international community to engage with the Minnesota African Taskforce Against Ebola (MATFAE) as partners to address emergency preparedness and response issues. Those Apps could also serve as a platform for local and global community dialogues to improve health outcomes in Ebola impacted regions.
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