Text messaging is not the only phenomena that cell phone technology has created; it's also helped to prepare people for threat of epidemics like the swine flu, measles and HIV in some African countries, according to CNN.com. In 2007, this was proved in Kenya when the first case of polio virus in more than 20 years put the lives of 100,000 children at risk. The Kenyan health officials determined that they needed a quicker way to survey, evaluate the situation, and start an immunization campaign. The solution was EpiSurveyor: a free, open-source application designed for personal digital assistants. The cell phone application for the software enabled officials to gather data more quickly and effectively to send to headquarters for faster analysis. This process drastically cuts down the time individuals need to wait before being treated.—Shavon S. Greene