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Responding to the Ebola crisisMobile phones can empower health workerswho are fighting the current outbreakof Ebola in West Africa. We are contributingto Ebola infection-prevention efforts ina number of ways, primarily by supportingcommunity health workers.As part of the initatives led by the EarthInstitute and the International RescueCommittee (IRC), Ericsson is helping toempower community health workers inWest Africa.Helping health workers on the frontlineEricsson supplied more than 1,600 mobilephones pre-loaded with m-health apps tohealth workers in communities affected byEbola, for use by the IRC and the UN PopulationFund. A survey management tooland a patient record-tracking tool wereamong the apps.Ericsson employees volunteered toset up the phones with health apps beforethey were shipped to West Africa, removingcomplexity in the field, as part of a new employeevolunteer pilot in Sweden (which alsoinvolves mentoring of high school students).Multi-stakeholder effortThe effort in West Africa contributes tothe 1 Million Community Health Workers(CHW) Campaign hosted by the UN SustainableDevelopment Solutions Network,in which Ericsson is represented. The goalis to use ICT to help community healthworkers, often on the frontline duringdisease outbreaks, to do their job moreeffectively and link the rural poor to thebroader healthcare system.reconnecting familiesBy bringing on board a number of mobilenetwork operators in countries of concernit has been possible to reach more familiesin refugee environments, on a scale thatREFUNITE would not have been able toaccomplish on its own.An online family reconnection platform, easily accessed by mobilephone, is helping refugees locating loved ones.According to the UN Refugee Agency(UNHCR), for the first time since World WarII, there are more than 50 million forciblydisplaced people in the world. From Syriato South Sudan, a historic and dauntingrefugee crisis is unfolding. Technology canplay an important role in addressing theneeds of the world’s growing number ofrefugees.Reconnecting loved onesSince 2010, Ericsson has been the leadtechnology partner to Refugees United(REFUNITE), a non-profit organizationfounded in 2008 to help displaced personslocate missing family and loved ones.Ericsson has supported the developmentof an online family reconnection platform,providing technical expertise, andengaging with mobile network operatorsand employees for on-the-ground support.The mobile phone platform combines asimple, low-tech user interface, like textmessage services such as SMS andUSSD, with high-tech back-end searchalgorithms and analytics. For the user, it iscost-free, and works over low bandwidthconnections on the most basic devices sothat refugees can register themselves andaccess the service.Aiming to reach 1 millionSince its formation, REFUNITE hasassisted thousands of forcibly displacedfamilies, with hundreds of family reconnectionsas a result. By end of 2014, the databasehad approximately 350,000 registeredusers – an increase from approximately250,000 in 2013, largely thanks todigital registrations. The goal is to register1 million people separated from family byend of 2015.Assisting Syrian refugeesSince 2010, a coalition of mobile operatorsin Africa and the Middle East has supportedthe project, including Safaricom inKenya, Vodacom DRC in DemocraticRepublic of the Congo, MTN in Uganda,Zain Group in Jordan and South Sudan,Asiacell in Iraq and AVEA in Turkey.In February 2014, the reconnectionplatform was launched to help reachSyrian refugees living in Jordan, Turkeyand Iraq.The REFUNITE platform is available tofamilies via a mobile application with tollfreelines and SMS awareness campaignsand at www.refunite.org.Refugees UnitedNumber of refugees registered400,000300,000200,000100,0000201120122013354,8179.02014Source: Refugees UnitedEricsson | Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report 201447