1 | Page Web based Expert system for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Malaria using two Ethiopian local languages (Amharic & Afan Oromo) Dereje Yoheannes (PhD) Addis Ababa Science & Technology University, AA, Ethiopia Zelalem Mihret (Phd Scholar) Korean Advanced Institute of Technology, South Korea Alemenew Shiferaw (PhD Scholar), Aalto University, Finland ABSTRACT It is estimated that a child is killed every 30 seconds and there is an annual report of 500 million Malaria cases in Africa [1]. To get the best of care, the patient may need the advice of several specialists over the course of time and with their own languages. Although major medical centers can and do provide such an adequate spectrum of services, those economically disadvantaged or remotely located cannot or do not receive such an intensive concentration of assistance. This problem is especially acute in underdeveloped countries, where even the supply of physicians, nurses and technicians is very limited [2]. The main focus of this research project is to develop and use Malaria expert system to provide support in the Prevention, prediction and diagnosis of malaria using the two widely spoken languages in Ethiopia (Amharic and Afan Oromo). There are still some problems in creating such systems as most people in rural areas of Ethiopia are illiterate and computer literacy cannot be expected from them. We are convinced as such systems are needed to be developed in regional languages. Such systems are required to make available to village area through blocks or village administration units. In addition to this the possibility to communicate with the system by text, pictures and sounds will provide extra advantages. Adding speech interface to such systems may be proved to more beneficial to the people of remote areas. Even illiterate people can interact with speech interface based expert systems and get benefits. Key Words:- Malaria, Expert system, prevention, prediction, diagnosis 1. RESEARCH PROBLEM The ever increasing population rate of Ethiopia requires a need of more health personnel. There is also a shortage of hospitals, dispensaries, maternity and child health centers. The problem is even worse in rural areas where there are very less number of health centers. The health personnel to population ratio in Ethiopia have improved over the past two decades. But majority of these health personnel are available in urban areas. The rural areas have still very low health professionals to population ratio [2]. This shows that many people are still living without general health facilities (like essential drugs, safe water etc.). Medical expert systems designed using local languages can play here a major role by providing support in common clinical problems like prediction of diseases, prevention of diseases, diagnosis of diseases, counseling of the patients etc. Such programs would be very handful in rural areas where there is a shortage of health personnel. To achieve positive results in the fight against Malaria dissemination in Ethiopia, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be taken on board. 2. OBJECTIVES The main Objective of developing Malaria Expert system with embedded Amharic and Oromifa languages are:- To assist medical personnel in the diagnosis and treatment of malaria with their own language, To improve management of malaria patients in remote areas of the country with a shortage of Medical Personals using Amharic and Afan Oromo Languages, To formalize and document knowledge on malaria using the widely spoken local languages Amharic and Afan Oromo, To design and develop a user friendly web based Malaria expert system that will take into account practical considerations like cost, ease of usage and integration with its working environment using Amharic and Afan Oromo Languages.