New Delhi, November 12, 2007- Freedom HIV/AIDS, the mobile phone games initiative to combat HIV/AIDS in India and Africa has won the global Changemakers competition on "Why Games Matter: A Prescription for Improving Health and Health Care". The project was declared the most innovative health based gaming project from a diverse group of organizations from across the globe that have showcased their most successful strategies to transform health and health care in the "Why Games Matter" competition. The link of the award can be viewed at: http://www.changemakers.net/node/725/

The award has been instituted by Changemakers - an initiative of Ashoka, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The Competition utilizes Changemakers' online, open source competition model, which attracted entries from 13 countries. The eminent panel of judges include Janice Nall, Director Division of eHealth Marketing at the National Center for Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Chinwe Onyekere, Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; David Rejeski, Serious Games Initiative, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Dr. Skip Rizzo, Research Scientist & Research Professor, Institute for Creative Technologies & School of Gerontology, USC.

After the selection 14 finalists, the global Changemakers community was invited to comment on finalists' entries and vote for the winners. The freedom HIV/AIDS Project of ZMQ Software Systems received maximum votes to top the list of three winners. ZMQ will receive US $5,000 and will attend the Changemakers Change Summit at the RWJF-sponsored Games for Health Conference in Baltimore, MD in May 2008. ZMQ will have opportunities to connect with key decision-makers, investors, and others in the Video-games and Health Care arena.

Freedom HIV/AIDS is the largest social initiative using mobile phone games and mobile health management solutions & tools to fight HIV/AIDS, reaching to over 42 million users in Asia and Africa. The project is a CSR program of ZMQ Software Systems, India. The projects serves as the prime resource center for knowledge and health management tools on HIV/AIDS using the reach of mobile phone networks. Freedom HIV/AIDS is a pioneering initiative to create awareness about HIV/AIDS to under-privileged communities of the world through the mobile games. The project is innovative in 2 ways; firstly for the methodology of presentation of highly serious information by using Games, and secondly the mode of dissemination by exploiting the reach of mobile networks. The project is running successfully in India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Namibia and Mozambique.

Hilmi Quraishi, the Chief Architect of the initiative, said, "Fortunately or unfortunately, Mobile reach and HIV/AIDS has seen a parallel growth. Mobile devices are the most widely spread technology tool in the hands of a common man. Using this reach of device, we can fight HIV/AIDS by creating awareness and health management tools". 

Freedom HIV/AIDS is a social initiative of ZMQ Software Systems - an eLearning Gaming and Human Performance Solutions company based in New Delhi, India. ZMQ is an innovative company, which spends 12% of its profits for social development initiatives. ZMQ is committed to develop innovative technology tools to combat HIV/AIDS globally and is a member of Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. ZMQ is committed to develop technology tools for common man on Education, Awareness, and Basic Health Management and fight diseases in the world. . For more information, visit www.zmqsoft.com.

Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. Changemakers focuses on the rapidly growing world of social innovation. It provides solutions and resources needed to help everyone become a changemaker and presents compelling stories that explore the fundamental principles of successful social innovation around the world. Changemakers is building the world's first global online "open source" community that competes to surface the best social solutions, and then collaborates to refine, enrich, and implement those solutions. Changemakers begins by providing an overarching intellectual framework for collaborative competitions that bring together individual social change initiatives into a more powerful whole. For more information, visit www.changemakers.net.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. The Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio supports innovative ideas and projects that may trigger important breakthroughs in health and health care. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are typically future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and health care. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves.For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.