Question: Team Members Full Names:
Answer: 1. Sujay Kakarmath 2. Yogita Rochlani 3. Sameet Singh Khajuria 4. Noel Sequeira

Question: Mentor:
Answer: Dr. Sunita Shanbhag, Professor, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Seth G.S. Medical College & K.E.M. Hospital, Mumbai, India

Question: Title of Project:
Answer: PEARL (Proactive Emergency Alerting and Response Loop)

Question: Project Overview:
Answer: PEARL aims to help meet the 4th and 5th MDGs.

22% of 11 million global child deaths and 30% of global neonatal deaths take place in India. Majority of the causes of both maternal and child mortality in India are largely preventable but timely management is the key. Various factors contribute towards delay in seeking appropriate medical attention. Addressing these factors is essential to solve this problem.

The inability of rural populations (both seekers and providers) to react to medical emergencies is a significant contributor to rampant mother/child mortality and can be addressed if statistically established precursors to potentially life-threatening conditions are detected and timely treatment is sought/delivered.

Attending to health care issues in the rural areas, in a setup like that of India, is a challenging task and it is essential that the health care resources are appropriately channelized such that multi-tasking is made possible for a significant reduction in maternal and child mortality to be achieved.

PEARL (Proactive Emergency Alerting and Response Loop) is an adapted emergency response service that consists of 3 modules:

1) The Information Dissemination Module (IDM) aims to redefine the term "emergency" from the villager's perspective and motivate him/her to seek treatment for precursors to an emergency with urgency so that the threat of maternal/infant mortality and morbidity could be mitigated.
(For instance, an infant reported to die of hypovolumic shock [dehydration] could have been saved if it were reported that he was suffering from Diarrhoea [which the parents thought too routine to be alarmed about] for the last 3 days)

2)The Emergency Response Module (ERM) aims to encourage and empower the rural population to report the symptoms that are statistically proven precursors to emergencies,such that timely medical help is made available and emergencies are averted. It also enables the rural health services setup to function more efficiently by appropriate channelization of available resources.

3)The Statistics and Reporting Module (SRM) will reveal the correlation between variables like symptoms, locations, terrain, predominant occupation, etc. Patterns can be monitored for and alerts generated if alarming observations are made. The reporting module can help report the first case in an epidemic and alert communities about an impending epidemic.

Question: Technology/Software Used:
Answer:
* .NET 2.0
* SQL Server
* ASP.NET
* .NET 2.0 based IVRS Management Tool
(VBVoice by Pronexus)

Question: Inspiration: What inspired your team to enter the Microsoft Imagine Cup and why did you choose the Software Design competition?
Answer: Microsoft Imagine Cup is a great platform for students to come up with innovative, technology-based solutions to solve the world's toughest problems and present these at forum that gives them international exposure. Sameet and Noel have been part of the process that is the Imagine Cup. Last year, they emerged winners of the the Interoperability Award at Paris. This year's theme gives students an opportunity to address problems that lie outside the traditional realm of software. The theme had us both intrigued as well as determined to identify a pressing real world need and address it through an innovative yet grounded solution.

Question: Team History: How did your team meet?
Answer: Some of us have been friends and some acquaintances over the last few years. Noel Sequeira and Sameet Singh come from the same undergraduate class in VESIT, Mumbai (an engineering school) while Yogita Rochlani and Sujay Kakarmath are from the same undergraduate class in LTMMC, Mumbai (a medical school). Noel ,Yogita and Sujay have known each other for the last few years and have worked together in an organization takes up various community service projects. Dr. Shanbhag was an Associate Professor in the Department of Community medicine at LTMMC, Mumbai and had supported and guided us in various projects. The idea of this project was born in one of the meetings with her and she has been integral in shaping it.

Question: Team Experience: What experience did your team have with Software Design before competing in the Imagine Cup?
Answer: Sameet and Noel have worked on a few projects together, none with a rural focus though. Yogita and Sujay have been involved with Mumbai Blood Donors, a web-based blood donor directory and are comfortable working with technology teams.

Question: Highlights: What has been the best part of the Imagine Cup competition to date?
Answer: The SDI National Finals!! Bangalore has amazing weather and we made the most of every break we got! Yup, we enjoyed the competition too ;)

Question: Inspiration: How did your team come up with your submission? Include which Millennium Development Goal inspired your solution.
Answer: Since the theme this year involved issues pertaining to healthcare it created scope for a mixed team comprising students from medical and engineering faculties. We decided on exploring the possibility of solving a real world problem that can help overcome limitations of the existing technological as well as healthcare services. We began our Imagine Cup journey under the guidance of Dr. Shanbhag, a community health expert. After a series of brainstorming sessions, several meetings with our mentor and visits to a couple of villages, we identified a problem we felt impacted a large populace. Some careful grassroots research later, we realised that technology could play a limited role in any real-world solution. Our research helped us identify a pain point and we proposed PEARL as a solution to help achieve the 4th and 5th MDGs.

Question: Challenges: What personal or technological challenges did your team face while developing your submission?
Answer: The biggest challenge was for the medical students to grapple with technology and for the engineering students to identify where technology can fit in, in a rural setup. Designing for a rural user was a challenge that we particularly savored.

Question: Future Plans: What does your team plan on doing after the Worldwide Finals in Cairo, Egypt? Do you plan to use your project to launch a new business?
Answer: We plan to take this forward as a Research Project and publish our findings in the form of a research paper.This will involve setting up a pilot in a small area and then studying the acceptance,utilization and finally impact of such a solution in the rural areas.Cost benefit and cost effectiveness studies are underway.

Question: Links to more information (i.e. website, blog):
Answer: http://www.projectpearl.info