Contact:
Chris Kingham
Anyware Mobile Solutions
(918) 388-3550
chris.kingham@goanyware.com

Anyware Helps Mobilize the STOP AIDS Project

TULSA, Okla., June 4, 2007 – Anyware Mobile Solutions is helping mobilize the fight against HIV/AIDS, providing new mobile technologies that enable the San Francisco-based STOP AIDS Project to gather honest, accurate information about sexual behaviors, educate the community, and streamline reporting to government agencies and health researchers.

Founded in 1985, STOP AIDS is recognized internationally for its grassroots approach to AIDS prevention. Each year, STOP AIDS’ outreach workers conduct 4,000 behavioral assessment surveys in the city’s gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Until recently, the volunteers canvassed clubs, gyms, and other locations armed with clipboards, pencils, and lengthy paper forms.

But as Jamey Frank, IT manager at STOP AIDS, remarked, “The paper survey was becoming a bottleneck.”

The survey had grown to more than 100 questions as knowledge of HIV/AIDS and relevant behaviors increased. “When volunteers approached,” said Frank, “more and more respondents were saying ‘No, thanks; gotta go.’”

Transferring and sharing data also posed problems. STOP AIDS passed completed surveys on to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where staff manually typed responses into a stand-alone database with no sharing capability. In the transfer, surveys were sometimes misplaced or data was lost, raising concerns about accuracy and completeness.

Generating reports was slow as well. Six months could pass before the health department sent a massive ASCII data dump back to STOP AIDS, and reports had to be run using a stand-alone statistical application. Because of the effort involved, STOP AIDS was able to generate reports only once a year for the California Department of AIDS, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of California, San Francisco.

Frank turned to Anyware Mobile Solutions for answers to the paper problem. The Tulsa-based mobility enabler now provides STOP AIDS with a mobile solution that streamlines data collection, automates the transfer of information among databases, accelerates report delivery, and encourages greater participation from respondents.

STOP AIDS’ new mobile assessment survey runs on handheld mobile computers, making it much more appealing. “There’s definitely a ‘cool’ factor when volunteers walk up with a small mobile device,” said Frank. “Plus, respondents see only one question at a time and aren’t put off by a huge stack of paper. Also, outreach workers can actually see the questions in darker venues and outdoor nighttime settings.”

The new survey is also easier to use. Customized on Anyware’s ReForm™ mobile data collection platform, the digital survey is clearer to read and navigate. It also features automated branching logic, which streamlines the interview process and improves accuracy. For example, if respondents report that they practice safe sex, their “yes” response calls up in-depth questions about safe behaviors. A “no” response returns questions about unsafe behaviors.

The Anyware total solution also automates data transfer, ensuring the highest accuracy and improving reporting. Now, when outreach workers and volunteers bring the Palm devices back to the STOP AIDS office, data is instantly uploaded via Wi-Fi to a centralized Anyware database. From there, it is imported into STOP AIDS’ local databases. The ReForm solution has eliminated nearly all data loss, and because information is always current, reports are generated as often as every two weeks.

“Anyware and ReForm have been a big help to us,” said Frank. “Anyware gave us special terms as a non-profit, and the technology has helped gain attention for STOP AIDS and our support for the San Francisco Wi-Fi Project – an initiative to Wi-Fi-enable the entire city. Most of all, they help us do a better job in HIV/AIDS prevention. I’m glad to take any opportunity to evangelize Anyware at technology conferences and other venues.”

About Anyware Mobile Solutions
Anyware Mobile Solutions, a division of Macrosolve, Inc., is an experienced mobile business video, data, product and professional services company.  Founded in 1996, our expertise includes mobile custom solution management, product development and product marketing.  We uniquely enable innovation with customers, wireless carriers, mobile hardware and software partners.  Anyware is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  For more information visit www.goanyware.com.  Go ahead.  Go Anyware.