Digitalization is not only important for big cities, but also for rural communities. It is true that some teachings need to be done, but a lot of people in the rural areas of Southeast Asia could really benefit from this process. Here are several important and crucial aspects that could really be enhanced to make life better for the people living in Southeast Asian rural communities.
Easier Access for Healthcare
Living far away from cities means that access to good healthcare is limited. There’s a lot of stories of people in Southeast Asia that have to go to extreme lengths to reach good healthcare. Digitalization would really help rural communities to access healthcare services remotely with telemedicine since there are very few healthcare facilities in their area.
While this couldn’t really help people that are in dire needs such as physical treatments or surgeries, advancing the digitalization in healthcare could really help people who need consultations with doctors and other healthcare professionals. Mobile apps could also really beneficial for rural populations to track their health, receive reminders for any vaccinations or medications, and access online medical advices.
Better Access to Education
Education is also a big issue for rural populations since usually there are only a handful of schools available for them, and they’re also struggling to find good teachers since most teachers would much prefer working in big cities. Digitalization could fix this problem by making rural population able to access quality education, materials and courses with online learning platforms.
Digital literacy is also something that would needs to be enhanced in Southeast Asian rural communities. Programs could be launched to help rural populations get better understanding and learn how to use computers, smartphones and internet for educational purposes and also for making them available to other potentials such as e-commerce and promoting tourism.
Improving Agriculture
Internet could help a lot of things, and one of them is helping rural populations in agriculture practices. Rural farmers could use the internet to access the weather forecasts, market prices, or any new information about crop management. By advancing digitalization in the rural areas, farmers could improve their techniques, yields, and reduce some risks.
Not only for planting, managing, or harvesting crops, digitalization could also really help rural farmers to sell them. Farmers could use the help of internet and gadgets to connect themselves to direct buyers which would really help them to increase their profitability, streamline processes, and reduce some inefficiencies.
Preserving Culture
Rural communities could also take a full advantage of digitalization to preserve their culture and communal identity. They could use projects of digital archiving or online platforms and social media to preserve their traditions, cultural heritage, and even language. With this, not only they would be able to protect their heritage, but also making it accessible to other people from the broader world to acknowledge and learn.
Internet, computers and gadgets could also help rural populations to unlock financial opportunities by promoting and selling their unique local arts and crafts. This would reach markets outside their local communities, enhancing potential profits and then attract more local youths to learn and preserve their traditional craftsmanship.
Disaster Response
Southeast Asia while beautiful, but also prone to various types of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, and volcanic eruptions. So many cases that a lot of lives lost because the rural areas don’t have adequate monitoring systems and are too late to warn and alert the population about incoming disasters.
With better digital technologies such as satellite monitoring and mobile alert systems, rural communities would be better equipped to prepare and respond to various natural disasters and therefore, could minimalize the casualties. Digital tools could also help for events after the disaster struck such as distributing donations and supplies, also coordinating volunteers.
