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ITU-D -FLASH • 2015 ITU AND JAPAN AGREE ON A NEW INITIATIVE TO COMBAT THE EBOLA OUTBREAK ITU and the Government of Japan have signed a cooperation agreement for the development of a mobile phone based health initiative to be used in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease.The TeleHealth initiative will consist of two smartphone applications: one designed specifically for village and community leaders in the Ebola affected countries and the other for doctors involved in the global efforts to combat the disease.Through the App, village and community leaders, especially those in remote areas, will be able to contact doctors registered on the application to relay information to identify, confirm and seek guidance on possible Ebola cases. Doctors registered to use the App will subsequently be able to coordinate their response, indicate the number of cases they can handle and forward cases to other doctors who are part of the network. The TeleHealth initiative is intended to provide a possible solution to the problem of shortage of doctors, which is one of the major difficulties facing the global efforts to contain the outbreak of the Ebola Virus disease. The first phase of the application scheduled roll out will target remote villages which are covered by a mobile phone network. Subsequent phases will tackle villages with no or limited coverage. The application will also be designed to function in low bandwidth areas