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In March 2018 WiRED International launched its Health Module Access Program (HealthMAP). This innovative technology opened up access to WiRED’s materials for millions more people in the world’s most distant communities, many with limited or no online access. A year later WiRED now unveils a newly refreshed and more user-friendly HealthMAP.
HealthMAP is the brainchild of WiRED Board Member and programmer analyst Christopher Spirito (see interview), who built the application from scratch. He explained, “This 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.”
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.
Mr. Spirito described the HealthMAP upgrade by saying, “WiRED has updated its HealthMap software based upon feedback from its users. The latest version of the application offers a revised user interface which makes finding modules and making core component updates easier and improves overall performance.”
The new HealthMAP will give WiRED the capacity to deliver a wealth of medical and health training programs to people in off-the-grid regions, people in the greatest need of a fundamental understanding of critical health issues, including prevention, signs and symptoms identification and methods of treatment.
Since its beginnings, WiRED has delivered cutting edge, technology-based health learning tools to underserved communities around the world. WiRED offers all of its materials — including HealthMAP — free of charge. HealthMAP will be a key tool going forward, especially as WiRED distributes its Community Health Worker Training Program to global audiences.
The Need for HealthMAP
In regions where the Internet is always on and always available, HealthMAP isn’t a big deal. At any time, people in these resource-rich places can access all the websites they wish, including the 400+ free, health modules in WiRED’s library. However, much of our audience — upwards of 80 percent — live in areas where the Internet is absent, intermittent or too costly to use for more than a few minutes. That’s where HealthMAP comes in. It opens all our training resources to people in the most restrictive environments.
Prior to Chris Spirito’s development of HealthMAP, if someone in a limited Internet region needed our material, they would let us know, and we would prepare a flash drive with the appropriate files. Then we would send it via post. The chance of that flash drive reaching its intended recipient in a low-resource region was not high, and if it did reach them, it would often take months.
Now, when someone wants a module or dozens of modules, they open HealthMAP, select their choices and, within minutes, the files are downloaded, ready for immediate use. Moreover, with the click of a button, HealthMAP enables them to copy those files for sharing with others . . . those people, in turn, can share the files with yet others and so on, allowing these health resources to become widely available throughout a region.
WiRED offers health education content and a unique distribution system that provides health information so millions of people can contribute to their own well-being by understanding disease prevention measures and other healthy practices. WiRED’s content and distribution system support our abiding belief that community health begins with knowledge.
You can download the modules mentioned in this story, and all 400+ of WiRED’s health modules, through WiRED’s Health Module Access Program (HealthMAP) by clicking here. This easy-to-use free program will enable you to create your own customized collection of health learning modules. You can learn more about HealthMAP through WiRED's animation.
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