How could we help rescuers to give proper attention to a victim, when their condition doesn't allow them to give vital medical information about themselves? The challenge was to find a simple and accessible solution that could overcome the lack of prevention culture among Mexican people. The objective was to reduce the number of deaths because of wrong treatments and cases of anaphylaxis, caused by not having the right information at the right moment. SOS SMS is an emergency service that the Red Cross rescuers can easily access by dialing *SOS in the victim's cellphone emergency screen.

We sent an SMS countrywide invitation to cellphone users to enlist to the service. They could enter their medical information in our database by replying to the message or by entering the Red Cross website, turning their cellphone into a tool to save their own lives.

After receiving an invite via SMS, the user can register his/her personal medical information in the Red Cross database, either by replying the SMS invitation or by entering the website.

In agreement with the carrier, the SOS SMS service is available as an emergency number, accesible through the emergency screen.

When a rescuer dials *SOS from the patient's cellphone, no sensible personal information is displayed, just gender, age, height and weight, to properly identify the patient. But important information is available to the rescuer, like blood type, allergies, medical conditions, pregnancy, medicated drugs, or any other vital data.

In the pre-launch stage 300,000 users were invited via SMS, since march 19th 2015.

So far, 40% have successfully registered their personal medical information in the Red Cross database.

The launch stage will be supported by a national media campaign, after which we expect to reach 80% of all the cellphone users in Mexico.