Mobile phones and simple text messaging may be the keys to victory in the world’s largest public health initiative: the eradication of polio.

As the disease retreats from the global stage, thriving in only a few remote areas in three countries, it’s up to health workers to deliver vaccines and share information with speed and accuracy.

Rotary and its partners are strengthening the lines of communication by giving cellphones to health workers in Pakistan and Nigeria, where a single text message could save a life.

In Pakistan, Rotary has been working to replace traditional paper-based reporting of maternal and child health information, including polio immunization data, with mobile phone technology.

Community health workers across the nation have received more than 800 phones through a partnership with Rotary; the Pakistani government; Telenor, the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider; and Eycon, a data monitoring and evaluation specialist. Organizers plan to distribute a total of 5,000 cellphones by the end of 2018.

One more way Rotary is working to make our world a safer, better place.