LIRNEasia » Nuwan Waidyanatha

Wireless communication of disease indicators

Rohan Samarajiva — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 08:08:26 +0000

The end game in m health: medical monitors implanted in the body, wirelessly connected to doctors and nurses who can take remedial action. Not really something researched in Nuwan Waidyanatha’s m health projects, but still worth keeping an eye on:

“If the technology delivers as promised,” Mr. Casey says, “then we believe that’s when we’ll move from sensors on people diagnosed with a disease to literally everybody.”

Professor Rogers is a co-founder of MC10, an electronics company in Cambridge, Mass., that is aiming to turn the epidermal monitor prototype into a commercial product in 2013. David A. Icke, MC10’s chief executive, said the company’s skinlike device consists of tiny components that are physically separated, like electronic “islands.” They are connected with squiggles he calls “serpentines,” which are designed to bend and absorb strain without breaking. The technology can theoretically be used both inside the body and on the skin.

Electronic monitoring of patients at home could significantly reduce medical costs. A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs and published in 2008 suggests possibilities for savings.

From 2003 to 2007, researchers tracked a large group of patients with serious conditions, including congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Full story.

LIRNEasia m-health research in FutureGov magazine

Nirmali Sivapragasam — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:04:32 +0000

LIRNEasia‘s m-health research pilot project has been featured in the October 2010 issue of FutureGov Asia Pacific magazine. Led by Nuwan Waidyanatha, the project explores the use of mobile phones for early detection of communicable diseases in selected cities in India and Sri Lanka.

The full article can be downloaded here or read below:

Sri Lanka has completed the trial of a mobile phone project which helps early detection of communicable diseases. The ‘Real-time Bio-surveillance Programme’ allows data on patients and symptoms of illnesses to be sent directly from hospital wards to the epidemiological centre through a web interface installed on mobile phones. Under the present manual system, set up in the 19th century, it can take more than two weeks for information of outbreaks to reach the epidemiological centre in the capital. As a result, officials first learn about the outbreak through the media. The mobile system allows quick analysis to identify disease patterns to be made before the outbreak spreads.

-FutureGov Asia Pacific, October 2010, p. 47

LIRNEasia m-health research presented in Pakistan

Nirmali Sivapragasam — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 04:51:33 +0000

Findings from LIRNEasia‘s m-health pilot research on the use of mobiles for detection and dissemination of disease outbreaks, led by Mr. Nuwan Waidyanatha, was presented to key stakeholders at a workshop on 29 – 30 September 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Participants consisted of key officials of the ministries of health and IT, public and private healthcare institutions, NGOs and academic institutions. The conference was co-funded by eHealth Association of Pakistan and International Development Research Centre, Canada.

Findings have also made to the Pakistani media. Read the full article appearing in the The News, here.

LIRNEasia at ITU Asia-Pacific Workshop on Use of ICTs in Response to Disasters

Nirmali Sivapragasam — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:54:22 +0000

LIRNEasia’s Nuwan Waidyanatha will be making a presentation on ‘Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)’ at the ‘ITU Asia-Pacific Centres of Excellence Training/Workshop on Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICTs in Response to Disasters: Saving Lives, to be held on 24-28 November, 2008, in Kedah, Malaysia.

The Training Workshop will focus on concepts and hands-on training on various technologies and
applications that are suitable for deployment and aimed at facilitating rescue and relief
operations in emergencies, especially in the aftermath of a disaster. The stated aims of the workshop are to:

create awareness and demonstrate telecommunication technology options, facilities
and services applicable for use in response to disasters or emergencies especially in
disaster relief operations;
provide practical experience to participants in using the telecommunication/ICT
facilities and services during these operations;
strengthen partnerships in disaster relief among international agencies/organizations,
NGOs, industry, and governments as well as encourage roles of public sector or NGOs
identify issues and challenges in countries in order to find ways to overcome them.

This workshop is organized jointly by the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU, Universiti Utara Malaysia (ITU CoE ASP UUM), the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications (MEWC), Malaysia and sponsored by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), Government of Australia.

A draft version of the agenda is available here.

HazInfo Dissemination Workshops wrap up in Jakarta

Udu-gama — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:23:18 +0000

On 5 March 2008, LIRNEasia in partnership with the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP) will hold the third and final “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop at the Hotel Borobodur in Jakarta, Indonesia. Rohan Samarajiva, Natasha Udu-gama and Nuwan Waidyanatha will participate and speak at the event alongside several Indonesian speakers from various governmental, community-based and international NGOs such as BAKORNAS PB, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), KOGAMI Padang and GTZ GITEWS. As in past HazInfo workshops in India and Bangladesh, the Indonesia workshop will not only discuss findings from the “Evaluating Last Mile Hazard Information” pilot project, but also exchange lessons learned from Indonesian counterparts.

Making Communities Disaster Resilient at GK3

Udu-gama — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:01:00 +0000

The LIRNEasia HazInfo team, Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha, Natasha Udu-gama, joined its partners from Sarvodaya, Dialog Telekom and WorldSpace Corporation (India) to present findings from the “Evaluating Last Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) pilot project at the “Making Communities Disaster Resilient” on December 11, 2007 during the Third Global Knowledge Partnership (GK3) conference in Kuala Lumpur from 11-13 December.

The session, moderated by Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, presented findings and analysis within a 90-minute session divided into two mini-sessions on technology and community. Mr. Michael De Soyza of Dialog Telekom and Mrs. Mala Rao of WorldSpace Corporation (India) presented their respective technologies piloted in the project. In the second mini-session on community, Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director, Sarvodaya discussed the Sarvodaya approach to making communities disaster resilient. Natasha Udu-gama and Nuwan Waidyanatha presented analysis of the findings.

“Making Communities Disaster Resilient” – Rapporteur Report

Second HazInfo Dissemination Workshop held in India

Udu-gama — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:44:49 +0000

On Monday, November 19th, Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha, and Natasha Udu-gama of LIRNEasia, along with Menake Wijesinghe of Sarvodaya‘s Community Disaster Management Centre went to New Delhi, India for the second in a series of workshops on the “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) entitled “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems” at the India Habitat Centre in conjunction with the All India Disaster Management Centre (AIDMI).

The workshop included a variety of stakeholders from Indian government, civil society, international organizations, private sector, and NGOs. Mr. Mihir Bhatt, Honorary Director of AIDMI, along with Mr. Mehul Pandya, Risk Reduction Transfer Initiative Coordinator and Ms. Vandana Chauhan, Urban Risk Reduction Coordinator were in attendance from AIDMI’s Ahmedabad, Gujarat headquarters.

New Delhi HazInfo Workshop Report

New Delhi HazInfo Workshop Brochure

Inauguration | Rohan Samarajiva
Session I: Methodology, Preparedness, Training & Community Organization
Session I | P. Prasad
Session I | Menake Wijesinghe
Session II: Transmission of Warning to Local Levels
Session II | Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya
Session II | Natasha Udu-gama
Session III: First Responder Action
Session III | Suresh Mariaselvam
Session III | Natasha Udu-gama
Session IV: Determination of Hazard from National Level
Session IV | Nuwan Waidyanatha
Session V: Next Steps
Session V | Rohan Samarajiva

Dhaka HazInfo Dissemination Workshop | October 25, 2007 at BUET

Udu-gama — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:48:58 +0000

On October 25, 2007, LIRNEasia’s Rohan Samarajiva, Nuwan Waidyanatha and Natasha Udu-gama traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to present findings from the “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) pilot project in the first international dissemination workshop for HazInfo entitled “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-Based Last-Mile Warning Systems” at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) through its Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS) directed by Dr. Mehedi Ahmed Ansary. The report summarizes the workshop and its sessions. Overall, the workshop was a success in familiarizing the Bangladeshi audience with the HazInfo pilot project and meeting the objectives.

Dhaka HazInfo Dissemination Workshop Report

Presentations:
Inauguration:
Elements of a Community-Based Warning System | Rohan Samarajiva

Session I: Determination of Hazard at National Level
Determination of Hazard at the National Level: Sri Lanka Experience | Natasha Udu-gama
Determination of Hazard from National Level | Aftab Alam Khan
Simulation of Tsunami inundation by ComMIT Model | Sujit Kumar Debsarma
3D-Perspective Visualization of Storm Surge | Sujit Kumar Debsarma

Session II: Transmission of Warning to Local Levels
Transmission of Warning to Local Level: Bangladesh Experience | Md. Nasir Ullah
Transmission of Warning to Local Level | Nuwan Waidyanatha

Session III: First Responder Action
First Responder Action | Nuwan Waidyanatha
First Responder Action (Bangladesh Experience) | Ashutosh Sutra Dhar

Session IV: Methodology, Preparedness, Training and Community Organization
Early Warning Challenges: Options & Solutions | S. Rangarajan
Methodology, Preparedness, Training & Community Organization | Natasha Udu-gama

Session V: Next Steps
Roles of policymakers, regulators, private sector and civil society | Rohan Samarajiva

HazInfo Dissemination Workshop in Bangladesh on October 25th

Udu-gama — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:02:22 +0000

On October 25, 2007, LIRNEasia will hold its first regional dissemination workshop for the “Evaluating Last Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) pilot project at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) through its Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety (BNUS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The purpose of the workshop is to gather experts, practitioners and community organizations to discuss the findings of the HazInfo project and determine ways in which the project may be developed to suit community-based hazard information dissemination regionally. The “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop in Dhaka will feature five presenters from government, academia and NGOs. Dr. A.M.M. Safiullah, Vice-Chancellor of BUET, will be Chief Guest during the workshop inauguration. Presenters from LIRNEasia include Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, Mr. Nuwan Waidyanatha and Ms. Natasha Udu-gama. Each will present different aspects of the HazInfo results. For more information on this workshop, the following documents are now available:

Dhaka HazInfo Workshop Agenda
Dhaka HazInfo Workshop Brochure
Dhaka HazInfo Workshop News Release

The Dhaka HazInfo workshop is the first in a series of HazInfo dissemination events in the region. The next workshop will be held in partnership with the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India on November 19, 2007. The third, and final, regional workshop is proposed to be held in Indonesia in January. More details on these upcoming workshops will be available in the months ahead.

Talking CAP in Harbin, ISCRAM-CHINA 2007

Nuwan Waidyanatha — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:25:50 +0000

Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) was the talk of the town in Harbin at the ISCRAM-CHINA workshop, which took place August 26-27, 2007. The event was jointly organized by the ISCRAM-Community and the School of Economics and Management – Harbin Engineering University. The workshop was a post-conference meeting to the International Disaster Reduction Conference (IDRC), which took place 21-25 August, 2007.

LIRNEasia project manager, Nuwan Waidyanatha, was 1 of 2 Sri Lankan delegates invited to present a research paper and the other was Chamindra De Silva of Lanka Software Foundation – Sahana Project. LIRNEasia presentation titled “Common Alerting Protocol Message Broker for Last-Mile Hazard Warning System in Sri Lanka: An Essential Component” was 1 of 115 papers published in the workshop proceedings. The paper was based on the research findings that proved the need for a CAP Broker to improve the performance of the Hazard-Information-Hub at Sarvodaya in order to make the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System highly reliable and relatively effective. A LIRNEasia paper on CAP relating to the “challenges of internetworking with CAP” was also published in the ISCRAM conference in Delft, Netherlands in May this year and was invited to present at the conference.

CAP is widely accepted by emergency communicators but practically adopted by very few. However lags in being used for Internetworking and Multilingual communications were it has its strengths. Those who discussed CAP including representatives from the European Union and United Sates of America expressed that the Multilingual and Physically Challenged issues are yet to be addressed in their CAP research, which means Sri Lanka may be in the forefront of CAP research.

Paper on HazInfo CAP Message Broker, ISCRAM-CHINA proceedings –
N. Waidyanatha, G. Gow, P. Anderson (2007 August). “Common Alerting Protocol Message Broker for Last-Mile Hazard Warnings in Sri Lanka: An Essential Component”. Proceedings of the 2^nd International ISCRAM Workshop, Harbin, China (B. Van de Walle, X. Li, and S. Zhang, eds.), Pages 59 – 65

Presentation – CAP Message Broker, An Essential Component

Report ISCRAM-CHINA 2007

LIRNEasia at ISCRAM-CHINA 2007

Indi Samarajiva — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:41:30 +0000

Nuwan Waidyanatha, project manager of the HazInfo program, has been invited to present a paper at the Second China Workshop on Information System of Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM-CHINA 2007) to be held on August 26-27, 2007 in Harbin, China. The paper entitled “‘Common Alerting Protocol Message Broker’ for Last-Mile Hazard Warning System in Sri Lanka: An Essential Component” will focus on proving the need for a CAP Broker for a Last-Mile Hazard Warning System. The general objective of the research was to evaluate the suitability of 5 ICTs deployed in varied conditions for their suitability in the Last-Mile of a national disaster warning system for Sri Lanka and possibly by extension to other developing countries.

The Live Exercises conducted between November 2006 and May 2007 showed that the Hazard Information Hub (HIH) had a reliability of only 78% on average – a poor result, as the reliability of the HIH performing her set of functions was not meant to be any less than 95%. High reliability from the HIH was a necessity in order to provide as much time for the Community First-Responders to activate and complete the Last-Mile Community Emergency Response Plans. The project, which employed the use of a standard data interchange known as the ‘Common Alert Protocol’ (CAP) Message Broker (a.k.a CAP Broker) between the HIH and the end-user technologies, showed that the reliability of the HIH could be improved, if and only if, a multilingual CAP Broker was introduced to the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System in Sri Lanka.

The conference will aim to provide an outstanding opportunity for researchers, scholars, teachers, students, practitioners and policy makers in China to address and discuss new trends and challenges in the area of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management.

ICTs and disaster conference in Sri Lanka

Rohan Samarajiva — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:50:30 +0000

Using ICT for Effective Disaster Management

A hotel that was hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Ahungalle, Sri Lanka is the location of a conference that examines all aspects of the relationship between ICTs and disasters.

One of the guests at this hotel on the 26th of December 2004, Dr Chris Chapman, a theoretical seismologist, wrote one of the best analytical accounts of the experience, which is on this PDF document.

LIRNEasia’s Executive Director Rohan Samarajiva and HazInfo Project Manager Nuwan Waidyanatha are participating as are a number of our partners in disaster work.