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The Promise of eHealth in the African Region
Most African patients making repeat visits to a hospital or to their doctor are likely to have had at least one similar experience: they routinely see their doctor or other hospital staff digging through stacks of ancient manila files in search of handwritten notes of their medical records. The patients will even be lucky if their files are found with complete information. Must this decades-old practice continue in this information age? “No”, says Dr Derege Kebede, head of the African Health Observatory (AHO) and Knowledge Management Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Africa Office (WHO/AFRO) in Brazzaville, Congo. “A solution already exists: electronic health or eHealth – countries and people in our region should embrace, promote and intensify the use of eHealth.”
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Eye-phone set to revolutionise African optical care
An impressive new mobile phone app is being tested in Kenya. It acts as a mobile visual clinic, and is set to revolutionise eye care in Africa.According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly 300 million people are blind or seriously visually impaired.But a team of doctors from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine armed with an innovative, low cost, smartphone solution, have set out to make an impact on this community.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public health
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Fighting Poverty, and Critics
Nina Munk’s new book, “The Idealist,” is about the well-known economist Jeffrey Sachs and his “quest to end poverty,” as the subtitle puts it. I know: That subtitle sounds like classic book-industry hyperbole, but, in this case, it’s not. That really is what Sachs has been trying to do. The question of whether or not he is succeeding is where things get tricky.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenya: Are Bitcoins the Future of Mobile Money?
The use of the virtual currency Bitcoins could change the way money flows in Kenya. But it hasn't caught on just yet.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa will Rule the World in Mobile Money, Expert Predicts
African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania have been predicted to rule the world in mobile money transactions, which include mobile banking and mobile wallet, in the next few years, going by the continent’s population and zeal for technology advancement.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenya: Seacom Opens Up Internet to Kenyan Techies
Fibre optic cable provider SEACOM has given 100 MegaBytes per Second (mbps) of internet connectivity to four innovation centers in Kenya to enhance their capacity to generate local content for a global audience.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Can NGOs and pharmaceutical firms partner to solve global health issues?
A few weeks ago, in a remote Rwandan village, I met a nurse who had set up her own clinic to serve the local residents. From a single, brightly decorated room, she was prescribing medicines and administering basic care that patients might otherwise have to walk 15 miles or more to reach.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda: Doctors Get Offers They Can’t Resist
Every two days, at least one doctor heads to the airport of a poor African country and flies off to work in Europe or America. Up to 2000 doctors have left in the last 10 years; leaving Africa with the highest disease burden in the world and the lowest number of health workers.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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