High-speed Internet is a weapon against the Ebola virus.

Imagine that it takes 1 hours to send ane-mail. Imagine driving a few miles to send a job update to a co-worker; imagine that the money you make a minute call is twice times the amount you earn every day; imagine that you're not worried about your time, patience, and health. But for the life and death of others.

And for the health care workers who are fighting the Ebola virus in West Africa, they don't need to imagine, because that's what they're going through every day. Before the high-speed Internet, it takes 1 hours for paramedics to send an email containing the results of laboratory tests to the port of Los Leone; call a call for supplies 5 dollars (about 30 yuan/min) per minute; the people of the Ebola medical Center in Guinea Correc to drive to neighboring towns every day, Tell your co-workers what's going on every day.

Thanks to the help of Emergency EADS Cluster and other partners, these places now have broadband networks. Reliable Internet access remains a problem for some of the hardest-hit areas of the Ebola epidemic that lack high-speed Internet connectivity. Now, the networks of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been flooded with health-care workers and medical institutions, becoming overcrowded and under increasing pressure from fragile infrastructure. The lack of network also makes it impossible for medical personnel to draw outbreaks, ethnic movements, and to manage supplies and logistics.

Based on the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake and the tsunami in the Philippines, reliable communication capabilities are the basis for efficient emergency response. The Ebola virus outbreak is no exception.

For health care workers in epidemic areas, it is equally important to combat the logistics and medical care of Ebola. "The ability of our team to capture and share information in real time is not just about efficiency, it's about human life," said Nigel Chapman, president of the International Planning Organization, Analysys. ”

To address this need, nethope and everylayer organizations have worked with Facebook, Paul Allen Family Foundation, Cisco and Inveneo to help West Africa's efficient communications capabilities. Together, the "Ebola Response Link Initiative (ERCI)", which will provide high-speed broadband Internet access for hundreds of Ebola virus medical facilities, the NGO office and the Logistics hub in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, has been formed.

This initiative draws lessons from previous emergency response examples and continues to receive feedback from the front lines of the Ebola epidemic area. 5 key elements have been learned:

Take the expedient and consider the long-term plan first. It is most important to solve communication problems as soon as possible. Erci will meet the communications needs of emergency responders by rapidly deploying communication solutions, which are faster and less costly than traditional mobile network scenarios.

Partners are the most important. In any disaster emergency response, cooperation is always the most important, especially in the complex battle against Ebola. Erci combines experts and resources from advanced technology companies, such as experts from Cisco, raised money from companies and philanthropists such as Facebook and Paul Allen, and joined local NGOs to provide infrastructure and provide communications solutions when needed.

Organizations need to work together. Erci share resources with other appropriate organizations. Emergency response should be multidimensional (taking into account the factors of the Earth Village), not only to include large NGOs, such as the United Nations and local medical institutions, but also to include hundreds of small partners and community-based organizations.

Test your local communication skills first. Another key factor is the design of technology deployment programs that can be easily and quickly deployed by local teams. If possible, we will work with local mobile network operators to measure and enhance the existing infrastructure to ensure its long-term stability.

From response to recovery. Given the nature of the outbreak, there is no clear boundary between response and recovery. While our focus is on the former, we will not overlook the latter. Building partnerships with local operators and strengthening local infrastructure capabilities ensure that long-term, low-cost communications are not only served in the Ebola virus prevention phase, but also for future services. It will also speed up the economic recovery in the affected areas, while increasing local capacity to respond to the next possible Ebola outbreak or public security challenge.

A doctor at the Correc Ambulance Center said the previous environment: "We run a hospital with a lot of paramedics, patients, labs, and no networks." Believe it, what is a hospital without internet? Messy, very messy. ”

We would be happy to serve the doctor and thousands of other health care workers who fought in the forefront of the Ebola virus epidemic. They have been hard enough. There is no need for more trouble and confusion.

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)