1. Posted on Friday 11 September 2009 - 11:19

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   AfricaNews editor

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   AfricaNews ICT desk

   Information Communication Technology can help Africa cure its malaria and other ailments, according to Emmanuel Ekuwem, the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria. He said ICT has a lot to offer and Africa must take advantage of it.

   

   Speaking at the maiden edition of the African Telecom Development Summit on Wednesday, Ekuwem said ICT has become a veritable platform to leverage development in the world.
   
   Ekuwem was rebutting the argument canvassed more than 20 years ago that Africa should de-emphasis the development of ICT and concentrate its resources on the provision of food and general problems, because the world cannot eat computers and that software cannot cure malaria, according to the NEXT.com.
   
   "With ICT, the world can mobilize information towards achieving food security in the world. With ICT, data can be transferred from one part of the world to another to help farmers boost their food production capacity. This underlines the role of ICT in resolving the world's food security problem.
   
   "In the next decade, we see a situation where every Nigerian or African, big or small, tall or short, rich or poor, who is residing in the rural area or urban centres in the cities, will use ICT as a tool to access knowledge and transfer the information or data he or she has been able to accumulate to boost his or her productivity. In the world today, it is not only what one knows that drives development, but also how fast one can transfer knowledge in productive ventures locally. Therefore, ICT can very well cure malaria," he told the participants.

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Reactions

1. Posted on Friday 11 September 2009 17:49

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   Chi Baby

   

   Chioma Onwukike
   4 berichten
   Lid sinds September 2009
   Lagos

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   Hiv/Aids In Nigera: Way forward
   
   I am calling on all stake holders from the upstream to the down stream involved in the fight against the growing increase of HIV mortality in Nigeria to loook indepth. The fight is still on and I enjoin you to keep on
   
   My Point: To reduce the growing increase in Hiv Mortality, Stigmatisation has to be reduced to the bearest minimum.
   
   How?
   Let's ignore the world statistics of estimated percentages of HIV/AIDS victims in Nigeria.Iam more concerned in people living happily with the virus.That is,living longer lives. By my own statistics, most of us in Nigeria are stigmatisers.From the highly educated to the ordinary man on the streets. It is indeed appaling that those we should love, we dread.This simply means that we don't have love in our hearts for alll I care.
   
   Get it, being careful about contacting the virus should be the same casual way we try not to get cough or any other airborne disease. For example, it is only proper that someone with cough should be on medication and use a handkerchief to cover his mouth when he coughs, only then will the next person be rest assured that it will not be transmited.So, Whait is the big deal? A person withHIV is also on medication and has his/her blade and other personal items just like the rest of us in the society. So, Why cant we make them happy? Why cant we visit them,live with them and amongst them, tell them that you love them and even more?Why don't they work with us anymore? Why do we treat them like outcast? Have we also paused to ask the reason people do not even go for a free HIV test.Apparently,it is because our society would only mock them ,ridicule them, throw stones at them and hate them and live them to die.So, if I do not know that I am infected and make love to my husband, it spreads.
   
   I dare to challenge the United nations and other stakeholders, We have heard songs and jingles of prevention(do not ahve sex with more than one prtne,do not use same sahrp objects etc) and we know the rules by the thumb but we don't know how to love those with the virus. Icall on all stakeholders once again including you and I to sensitise the society.All hands must be on deck to be able to fight this epidemic.
   
   Hiv victims may have their immunity depleted,thank God and sience for retriovirals but they still have their brains and emotions working.Let's make them our companion in schols, work place and society at large.Stigmatisation is indeed an epidemic and we have to fight it for a Hiv free nation.
   Onwukike Maureen Chioma.
   amecoj15@yahoo.co.uk
   234-07028646155

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