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  • Hospitals in Northern Ghana increase efficiency with health information system

    jeudi, mai 31, 2012 - 17:13
    Three hospitals in the towns of Saboba, Wiaga and Bawku in Northern Ghana, are setting up an upgraded health information system, customised to fit their specific needs. The system can help to increase the hospitals efficiency giving more insight into patients registrations, help to more easily keep track of pharmacy stock and more. The system contains several components that will each help different areas of the hospital. Clinical: Patients records and registrations, prescriptions, admissions and discharges, investigations (x-rays, laboratory, ultrasound scans etc.) and daily measurements. Stock and Inventory Management: Pharmacies, stocks and dispensaries, procurements, external orders and receivables. Human Resource: Managing staff, payroll, promotions and appraisals, recruitment and leave of absence. Income and Expenditure: Invoicing and billing, sponsors and patients invoicing, refunds and deposit payments. General Reports: Daily attendance, patient registrations, services and their fees, drugs bulletin, clinics, inpatient and outpatient listing as well as medical sponsors. The system will also provide the Ghanaian Ministry of Health with data concerning mortality, morbidity, outpatients and inpatients, midwife returns, surgical returns and bed state statistics. Local partner CHAG will also have the opportunity to monitor and compare the data from these hospitals in real time. This health information system will be up-scaled with the financial, technical and training support of IICD and Cordaid, working as members of the Connect4Change Consortium. It will be customised based on an already available system, HAMS, created by Ghanaian organization Infotech. HAMS is already being applied in more than 100 hospitals all over the country. The system provides a valuable source of medical, financial,administrative, human resources and insurance data. In addition, it is linked to DHIS2, the central public health monitoring system where information on all the hospitals in Ghana is accessible at all times. (Source: IICD) Further details

  • Bringing the internet to rural India's business community

    mercredi, mai 30, 2012 - 06:46
    More than half of India's population live in rural areas and off-the-map villages. Most are remote and too isolated to benefit from the country's impressive economic progress. Yet there's a growing desire among people in rural India to be part of its modernisation process. "India is a country which has more than 600,000 villages and connecting these areas with internet broadband will have a paradigm shift", says Sachin Pilot, the minister of state for communications and information technology. Increasingly the government is looking at better ways to reach remote, rural India. And it is hoping that technology will provide a solution. "It's time for our IT roots to go further inland and make sure that those areas which are tribal, rural and far-off geographically are brought to the ambit of the IT revolution", says Mr Pilot. While the country boasts the world's second fastest-growing mobile market, it is lagging behind when it comes to internet connectivity. According to a new study by the British risk analysis firm, Maplecroft, India is at 'extreme risk' from a lack of 'digital inclusion.' The country's IT revolution is sometimes thought to benefit only the better off. According to the study, a lack of digital inclusion could hamper the country's economic potential as well. But while India is trailing the BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia and China in the drive to get its population connected to digital technologies, the government says it has big plans. By 2014, it wants to connect 160m Indians to hi-speed internet. Through a range of public services, it's hoping to bridge the digital divide and bring awareness to those who are missing out on India's IT revolution. "The challenge before all of us is to create the demand among people to want these data-heavy intensive services," says Mr Pilot. "We are trying to educate the people, make it a demand driven process where the villagers in far-off areas are expecting and wanting that connectivity. And then they will be able to pay some price for that." (Source: BBC News) Further details

  • Kenya’s young to digitalize farming

    jeudi, mai 24, 2012 - 23:01
    A group of young graduates in Kenya have introduced a mobile-phone enabled technology which will help farmers in rural Africa to link up with crop researchers, meteorological departments and veterinary scientists to better their farm yields. Calvins Okello, a science graduate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and a colleague, Gordon Owiti, have developed the new technology that seeks to digitalize Africa’s agriculture and enable the government agencies to solve the crisis of poor food distribution. The technology, known as M-SHAMBA, a Kiswahili word for Mobile Farming, seeks to empower farmers with the latest technology innovations from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and the weather updates from the Kenya Meteorological Department to increase predictability of farming. “This is a unique new technology that gives information to farmers. This information is stored in a chip in the phone memory and enables the farmer to receive information on the various aspects of farming”, Okello said during the Science and Technology Innovation (STI) conference underway in Nairobi. Farmers can receive the latest information on cattle rearing techniques and have a chance to bargain for the highest price for their produce by placing their produce in the online platform. “It helps the farmers to sell online, notifying the market about the farm produce. Farmers are able to connect with buyers from great distances but it is up to the farmer in Kisumu to decide whether they want to sell to a buyer in Mombasa despite the great transportation barriers”, Okello said. The information is directly obtained from certified research, which is a more cost-effective way of allowing the researchers to see the outcomes of their work. To make the product more easily accessible to the farmers, the two innovators are currently investing in translating research papers into the more popularly spoken Kiswahili language. However, they say they are constrained by a lack of funding. Okello said the software enables the farmers to manage their farm records by entering the date of planting into an automated database, from where they are able to receive short messages and reminders about when to plant, based on the meteorological data findings. Owiti said the new technology has been developed with the sole intention of enticing the youth and those in professional cadres that agriculture can be technological savvy and is “cool”. (Source: Adeanet) Further details

  • Women in Rural Burkina Faso Get More Active role in Community Thanks to Radio Debates

    samedi, mai 19, 2012 - 05:50
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  • World Telecommunication Day with international forum "Women and girls in the ICT" - Peru

    jeudi, mai 17, 2012 - 17:25
    To commemorate this day, May 17 INICTEL-UNI held the International Forum "Women and girls in ICT". The event aims to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies - ICTs on women and girls as a tool to integrate a gender equality perspective. The event promoted by INICTEL-UNI, share the goals of ITU to encourages governments and institutions inviting girls and university students to spend a day on the premises or arrange visit programs observation ("shadowing") with female mentors in order to gain a better understanding of the opportunities offered by ICT. This year, the World Day of Telecommunications and Information Society is especially devoted to the theme of "Women and girls in ICT", adopted by the ITU Council in 2010. The celebration aims to ensure that vulnerable female half of the world progress towards equality. Gender equality is one of the main goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations. The forum will bring all the sectors involved in the field to encourage the adoption of policies and strategies to promote ICT related to the female gender and achieve the integration. It will feature panelists from the following institutions: Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Education, Department of Lima Council Engineers Association of Peru, National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation - CONCYTEC, National University of San Marcos, the Regulator in Telecommunications - OSIPTEL, among other important entities. (Source: INICTEL – Perú) Further details

  • ITU Award goes to President Cristina Fernández of Argentina, Sun Yafang and Geena Davis for focus on digital opportunities for women and girls

    mercredi, mai 16, 2012 - 23:26
    The 2012 World Telecommunication and Information Society Award was presented to three eminent personalities: President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, Huawei Chairman Sun Yafang, and Academy Award winning actor Geena Davis, founder of the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in Media. The ceremony took place in Geneva to mark the 147th anniversary of the establishment of ITU in 1865. The theme for the 2012 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day focuses on ‘Women and girls in ICT’. It is aimed at extending digital opportunities by providing avenues of advancement to professional women at the highest echelons of decision-making, and by encouraging young women to seek new careers within the sector. In a message on the occasion of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “On this World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, I call again for wide-ranging efforts to close both the digital divide and the gender gap.  All people must be able to make the best use of information and communications technology to help create the future we want”. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré further reaffirmed that gender equality is a basic human right enshrined in the UN Charter, and one of the main objectives of the UN Millennium Development Goals. “We are focusing our efforts this year on women and girls, using the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to provide new digital opportunities to end discrimination, and to empower women and girls to participate fully in society” Dr Touré said. “Girls and young women with ICT skills will find jobs that offer creativity, innovation, and entirely new ways of working. And encouraging girls into the technology industry will create a positive feedback loop – in turn creating inspiring role models for the next generation”. One such role model, is represented by H.E. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina who has spearheaded numerous digital initiatives such as the ‘Equal Connect Programme’ which aims to reduce the digital divide across Argentina’s educational system with a specific focus on developing quality digital content. Ms Sun Yafang emphasized that positive role models and real gender equality are critical for the ICT industry. “The ICT market is full of uncertainties, requiring companies to be highly adaptive,” said Ms Sun. “In light of this, I have been promoting female manager development at Huawei. This programme gives preference to women in manager selection when all qualifications are equal. In this way, we can provide real development opportunities for our female employees.” Ms Geena Davis, founder of the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in Media, has dedicated herself to advocating more positive representations of women and girls in the media and knows well the importance of reinforcing positive role models. (Source: ITU Newsroom) Further details

  • Primary Schools in Kenya’s North Rift Valley to Use Digital Tools to Reduce Dropout Rate

    mardi, mai 15, 2012 - 22:44
    A group of primary schools in Kenya’s Pokot and Turkana tribes’ districts is improving its management and education quality by using computers and training teachers and administrators in the use of them. Ultimate goal is to significantly reduce the dropout rate of primary schools students. In the first year, with the support of IICD and Edukans in the Connect4Change consortium and local partner NCCK Northrift, 4 schools will be targeted: 2 in West Pokot County and 2 in Turkana District. Both these areas are located in the Northern part of the Rift Valley Province. With the support of Edukans, community education facilitators train the School Management Committees on their roles and responsibilities in the management of their schools. These management committees are elected volunteers that have the mandate to approve or dismiss school’s decisions. To this improved management training, IICD adds a digital component. An ICT officer was hired to support and train the schools and equipment was procured and distributed to the schools over the last few months. Coming June, staff will be trained in the use of basic ICT for  school administration (for instance the use of Excel) and will discuss what should be in the administration system. This will lead to a school administration system where teachers, headmasters and administrators can more easily store school results and monitor dropout rates. It is also easier for teachers and administrators to keep the enrollment lists up to date and to act swiftly if they see that someone is not attending class regularly. They can also see how not attending classes regularly has affected students’ grades. Another advantage of a digitalised administration system is that it gets easier for School Management Committees in Pokot and Turkana districts to understand how money is spent and how this could be improved. In the future, an online component could also be added so financial and administrative data is also available (in a secure way) if the committee members or school staff are not at school and still would like to access the data.  Also, the Pokot and Turkana are pastoralist people who are in a constant conflict over land and cattle. About a third of the the children in the IICD-supported schools in the region are orphan or miss at least one parent because of this conflict. There is a lot of distrust between the people, but schools indicate that they are interested in using computers to get closer. A proposed idea was for each school to build their own simple website to promote their school, which can also be used for Turkana and Pokot children to share their ideas and poetry. Though schools are quite far apart, at some point during the implementation phase, schools could also visit each other. Teachers and school management committees may be from different tribes, but their all have the same aim: improving education, and using ICT to do it. (Source: IICD) Further details

  • New Research Reveals How Mobile Phones Can Help Women Entrepreneurs Develop their Businesses

    mardi, mai 15, 2012 - 17:45
    The ExxonMobil Foundation and Cherie Blair Foundation for Women released new research demonstrating how mobile phones can help women entrepreneurs develop and grow their businesses. The analysis across three emerging countries -- Egypt, Nigeria and Indonesia -- concludes there are a number of mobile technology-based solutions which, if tailored and scaled commercially, could support the business needs of women entrepreneurs. Based on the research findings, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women will follow the study with a pilot program to provide women entrepreneurs with tailored mobile phone applications that will help them manage their businesses more effectively. Research for the Mobile Value Added Services: A Business Growth Opportunity for Women Entrepreneurs report was conducted by the global management consultancy, Booz & Company. The report concluded that the extensive and ever-increasing penetration of mobile phones in developing and emerging markets presents a significant opportunity to women entrepreneurs who want to develop their micro businesses into flourishing small and growing enterprises. Mobile value added services are products offered through a mobile platform, such as text messaging and multimedia message services. "We already know that when mobile technology is properly incorporated into daily use, it can address an ever-increasing range of needs", said Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. "Yet many of these technologies are not designed with a woman entrepreneur in mind. This groundbreaking research and subsequent pilot program will identify the technology that is most effective for women entrepreneurs and will provide women with new opportunities to maximize the effectiveness and reach of their businesses". "In recent years, we have seen mobile phones evolve from a convenience to an essential business tool, enabling entrepreneurs to address pressing business challenges, increase access to new markets and operate more efficiently", said Suzanne M. McCarron, president of the ExxonMobil Foundation. "Yet all too often, women entrepreneurs around the world lack access to the technology and resources needed to succeed. Expanding the effective uses of mobile technology can help women earn more income and lead to more prosperity for them, their families, their communities and their countries". Full Report (Source: Market Watch)

  • Social Media And Video Games In Classrooms Can Yield Valuable Data For Teachers

    vendredi, mai 4, 2012 - 04:00
    Social media, video games, blogs and wikis are playing increasingly important roles in classrooms across the country. Some worry that incorporating more social media and other technologies into education is leading to too much computer time, as well as to a generation of students deficient in the face-to-face social skills needed to survive in the workplace. Proponents say schools need to find ways to use these technologies to improve teaching and learning, or else risk losing the attention of digital natives. A paper released earlier this week by the Brookings Institution addresses how social media, blogs and video games are improving education by increasing access to people and information in various forms, including Twitter feeds, blog posts, videos and books. These tools are also increasing people's ability to share information with networks and contribute their own thoughts. The idea is that the data collected by video games and social media sites can be provided, sometimes in real time, to teachers who can then use it to better understand their students and tailor instruction to meet individual needs. Companies like Knewton, Junyo and the Learn Lab in Pittsburgh and are all creating such systems that are being used by many schools across the nation. (Source: Huffington Post) Further details

  • World's First Virtual Master's in Disability Policy - Fellowships Available

    mercredi, mai 2, 2012 - 23:42
    The Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) is partnering with the Career Center at American University (AU) to provide virtual access to a host of career center services, including select professional development workshops and virtual advising for students in the Master’s of International Affairs in Comparative and International Disability Policy (CIDP) program. The Master of Arts in Comparative and International Disability Policy (CIDP) degree, offered by the School of International Service at American University, is the centerpiece program of the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP). The IDPP is led by the Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (COTELCO), a joint research center at American University and Syracuse University. Students can take courses from anywhere in the world, because courses are offered entirely online, and can be experienced in real time or accessed on demand Anyone around the world can apply for the CIDP Master’s program Faculty teach from geographically dispersed locations around the world Accelerated one year or extended part time flexibility available Courses incorporate Universal Design for Learning principles, and are accessible to blind, deaf, and mobility impaired students IDPP's cyberinfrastructure consists of an innovative combination of virtual tools to make the program as accessible as possible A CIDP Master’s degree empowers graduates to become global disability policy leaders. Courses teach the necessary skills for persons with disabilities to impact and influence the public policies that directly affect the disability community The Nippon Foundation offers full fellowships for select CIDP students, with preference given to students from the ASEAN region who are blind or visually impaired; deaf or hard of hearing; and/or mobility impaired. (Source: IPPD) Further details