The GSM Association Development Fund has partnered with Voxiva Inc to develop an application that will allow health workers in the field to use handheld devices to submit critical health data to authorities in real time, they said.

The aim is to allow health workers to use their mobile phones to report disease outbreaks, drug inventory levels, patient treatment status and other important information to a health management information system developed by US-based Voxiva.

Health officials can view, analyse and respond to vital data immediately, the GSM Association Development Fund and Voxiva said in a statement issued on the sidelines of a telecom conference and exhibition here.

"When disease is spreading rapidly, health authorities need information that is bang-up-to-date," said Rob Conway, CEO of GSM Association, a trade grouping of mobile phone operators worldwide.

"Mobile networks, which are now widespread in the developing world, are the best and most immediate way to get them that vital data."

In the first pilot project, Voxiva and the GSM Association Development Fund, supported by Rwanda's largest mobile phone operator MTN, have completed testing the software in that African nation's country's Eastern Province.

The tests, carried out in collaboration with Rwanda's National Institute of Statistics, used the software to capture health information normally written on a piece of paper. The data is written in the Java programming language so it can run on a wide range of mobile phones, the statement said.

Health workers put the information into their mobile phones and send it via a packet-based mobile connection, GPRS, into a central database. If there is no GPRS connection, the software can send the data as a text message.

Health workers can also use the software to order medicine, send alerts, download treatment guidelines, training materials and other information, the statement said.

Last month, the Rwandan government warned its citizens against complacency in the fight against HIV/Aids after the latest survey showed that three percent of Rwandans are positive for HIV, the virus that causes aids, down from 13.5 percent previously.

But health authorities said they believe the main reason for the drop were limitations in earlier studies that relied primarily on testing of pregnant women who are thought to be at higher risk than the national average.

A second pilot project using the mobile phone to combat the spread of diseases is scheduled to begin in Indonesia next month.

Mobile phones will be used to help track the spread of avian flu, which has claimed its 55th fatality in the country after officials confirmed on Tuesday that a 27-year-old woman who died last week was infected with the virus.

The project is supported by the GSM Association, Voxiva, the US Agency for International Development, the US-based non-profit organisation Winrock International, Microsoft and Indonesia's agriculture ministry.

GSM Association aims to bring universal access to mobile phones, especially to people in the rural areas. Its development fund is geared to harness mobile technology for social and economic development.