[UgaBYTES] WEEKLY NEWS ROUND UP-AFRICA (WEEK 12)

[Mwathi Francis]

*Defeating drug counterfeiters with SMS in Ghana*
19th March 2009

Pharmaceutical drug counterfeiters can foil even the most sophisticated
technology if consumers cannot personally verify their medication’s safety,
according to Ghanaian entrepreneurs who will soon introduce in West Africa
verification via cell phone text.

Consumers who purchase certain medications will be able to send the label
code via free cell phone text message and within seconds receive a text
response from the drug manufacturer of whether the drug is legitimate and
comes from a safe batch.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up to 30 percent of
pharmaceutical drugs sold in developing countries are fake.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83555


*Women farmers in Lesotho get mobile phone know-how*
18 March 2009

Access to mobiles phones has transformed the lives of rural women farmers
boosting income and expanding knowledge, a pilot study in Lesotho has found.
Three years ago, Evodia Matobo, then 62, a small-scale poultry farmer in
Lesotho's rural lowlands, was stacking plastic containers to feed her
chickens. Now she talks about "feeders, agricultural shows, workshops,
experts."

The moment that set her on the road to change for the better was when she
clasped a mobile phone for the very first time, and "felt like a teenager;
going back to life". The phone was one of 10 distributed to three
cooperative women's farming groups in different agro-ecological zones in
Maseru district, western Lesotho, by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability
Programme (RHVP), which builds evidence to help policy-makers working on
food security and social protection.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83535


*Rwanda hosts Commonwealth e-governance meet*
17th March 2009

Rwanda is to host the Commonwealth Telecommunications (CTO) African
E-Governance forum, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the chief executive officer, has
said.

Scheduled for March 24 to 26 at the Kigali Serena Hotel , “The forum will
provide a platform for policy-makers and industry players to develop
strategies for harnessing information communication technologies (ICTs) to
improve the effectiveness of public institutions,” he said.

“It will greatly contribute to the development of E-Governance in African
and the Great Lakes region in particular,” he added.

The forum, the third of its kind, provides effective means to bridge the
north-south digital divide. It also aims at achieving socio-economic
development of the developing countries through sharing knowledge using
ICTs.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/220/674944/Rwanda%20Hosts%20Commonwealth%20E-Governance%20Meet


*Poor skills keep ICT graduates out of work in Uganda*
18th March 2009

The majority of unemployed Ugandan graduates with Information, Communication
and Technology academic qualifications, are without jobs because they are
ill-prepared for the market, an industry expert has said.

Mr Albert Jogoo, the manager of enterprise solutions at Fountain Facilities
told Daily Monitor that many ICT students are falling to secure their dream
jobs because they fail practical job interviews and don’t have the
confidence to apply for jobs. “Institutions give them a lot of imaginary
knowledge and they are doing a good a job but the practical ICT skills are
totally deficient,” Mr Jogoo said in an interview on Monday.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/jobs/Poor_skills_keep_ICT_graduates_out_of_work_81700.shtml


*Botswana’s Ministry of Education gets Indian computers*
19th March 2009

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has received 731 computers with printers
from the Indian High Commission in Gaborone. The computers will be
distributed to schools in the country.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, the Indian High Commissioner in Botswana,
Vishnu Hade said his country is making the donation as part of a commitment
made in 2006. He said the commitment was made by the Indian Prime Minister
during his December 2006 visit to Botswana. Hade revealed that they will
give the ministry computers worth P8 million annually for the next five
years to be distributed to schools. Experts from India are expected to
arrive in the country to install the computers in schools and to assist the
teachers in using them.
http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=2&dir=2009/March/Thursday19







--
Francis Mwathi
Support Community Facilitator
UgaBYTES Initiatives (www.ugabytes.org)
Telecentr.org (www.telecentrecommunity.ning.com)
Tel: +256 414 370163
Mob: +256 752 995063
Skype: francis.mwathi
E-Mail: mfrancis at ugabytes.org