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Multi-level strategy to fight malaria launched by UN development arm and partners
The United Nations and a coalition of partners today launched a comprehensive approach to fighting malaria, a disease which – despite tremendous advances – still kills an estimated 660,000 people each year and poses a major challenge to development. With the participation of world leaders gathered in New York for the 68th General Assembly, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) launched the Multisectoral Action Framework for Malaria, which calls for greater coordinated action among different development sectors to tackle the disease, which exacts its deadliest toll in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public health
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Malaria Will Be The First Disease Beaten By Mobile
"Malaria will be the first disease beaten by mobile.” That’s what Martin Edlund, the CEO of Malaria No More, told the buzzing crowd during his Social Good Summit talk earlier today. Edlund and his organization view the mobile phone as a game-changer in the fight against malaria, a disease that killed 660,000 people last year – primarily women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edlund explained that malaria “thrives on bad information” and lack of data. And mobile phones are helping connect the dots between all the other malaria-fighting tools.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda streamlines healthcare with mobile technology
Uganda has received the African Development Bank's prestigious eHealth award for its M-Trac health management system, which has successfully changed the face of health service delivery in the country. At Uganda’s many remote health centres, putting pen to paper was the only way to alert health officials to problems such as drug shortages or outbreaks of malaria.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda: Executive Style – Managing Patients’ Records for Better Health
Claude VendetteOne Solutions, an ICT support company, is pioneering an innovative ICT-based record-keeping system to improve on operations at health facilities - which will ultimately contribute to the streamlining of processes in the health care delivery system in Uganda. The CEO, Claude Vendette, spoke to The Independent about its benefits.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenyans Find the Unintended Consequences of Mobile Money
In Western Kenya, “Sambaza” is both a marketing slogan and means for despair. It means “to spread.” Vodafone-owned Safaricom, the dominant mobile provider in Kenya, uses it as a brand name for a service that allows customers to transfer airtime to each other. According to a new study funded by the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMFTI), the word has also come to refer to the way money in a mobile account slips away, drip by drip, as friends and family ask for favors.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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USDA, TechnoServe Sign 3-Year, $15M Grant Supporting Cashew Farmers
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and TechnoServe intend to enter into a three-year grant agreement to support small-scale cashew producers, processing factories and the Government of Mozambique’s ongoing efforts to reduce poverty. This $15 million Food for Progress-funded project will support the cashew industry by harnessing global market demand for premium cashew kernel and addressing obstacles throughout the value chain, including in the areas of inputs, production, processing and marketing. In total, this project will support 30,000 smallholder cashew farmers by increasing their productivity and competitiveness as well as connecting them to new markets.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Safaricom Cautions Kenya Over Higher Taxes
Kenyan mobile operator, Safaricom, has warned the government that further increases in Excise Tax – a duty levied on goods or services for sale – will make mobile payment services less affordable for poorer citizens.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Swaziland: MSF Rolls Out Innovative Approach to Prevent Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission
Stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS from mothers to their children is an essential step in curbing the epidemic of the disease in Swaziland. Beginning in February 2013, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been rolling out an innovative approach, commonly referred to as PMTCT B+ (prevention of mother-to-child transmission, option B+), in southern Swaziland's Nhlangano area.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public health
