Africa

See the following -

Is The Pharmaceutical Industry Doing Enough To Increase Access To Essential Medicines?

Charles Moore | Bio News Texas | April 8, 2014

A report in The Lancet Global Health journal, citing the World Health Organization’s World Medicines Situation, notes that despite progress in many countries, about a third of the world’s population still has no regular access to essential medicines, and says responsibility to resolve this problem lies with many, including the pharmaceutical industry.

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Is There Ebola On That Smartphone?

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov.com | August 20, 2014

Medical staff treating patients with Ebola and other communicable diseases in Africa face a novel kind of smartphone security problem...

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Jenny Aker On Mobile Phones And Economic Development In Africa

Staff Writer | CDDRL News | November 9, 2009

Jenny Aker an Assistant Professor in the Economics Department and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, provided an overview of the welfare impacts of mobile technologies and how current research is testing our assumptions about the benefits of mobile phones for individuals in developing countries. Read More »

Join The Crisismappers!

Heather Leson | Ushahidi | September 10, 2013

Crisismappers of all map forms, organizations and disciplines will be converging on Nairobi in November 2013 for the 5th Annual International Conference of Crisismappers (ICCM) . Join important humanitarian, human rights, development and media organizations along with the world’s best technology companies, academics, journalists and hackers. [...] Read More »

Joseph Kony 2012: It's Fine to 'Stop Kony' and the LRA. But Learn to Respect Africans.

Semhar Araia | Christian Science Monitor | March 8, 2012

Of course Joseph Kony should be captured. But this approach is flawed. The video shows only a Western audience, without any reference to African partners or leaders. They are disempowering and undermining the role of Africans. They failed to recognize the role of individuals like Betty Bigombe, a long-time Ugandan activist, or seek partnerships with African organizations for the launch, such as Ushahidi or Africans Act for Africa.

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Juliana Rotich Maps The Future With Ushahidi #designindaba

Herman Manson | Marklives.com | February 27, 2014

Juliana Rotich, a speaker at Design Indaba 2014, has a remarkable eye. Show her a map of undersea broadband cables connecting to Africa, and she points out that they still follow the sea routes that helped make Africa a continent of colonies not so many decades ago. Read More »

Kathryn Cave (Kenya) Interview: Laura Walker Hudson CEO, Foundation At FrontlineSMS – The Power Of Text

Kathryn Cave | IDG Connect | April 5, 2013

The Text message is the most basic form of technological communication, possible on even the oldest mobile phone. This makes it open to virtually anyone, anywhere in the world. FrontlineSMS is the Open Source software which enables users to turn any laptop into a hub for sending, receiving and managing SMS over a mobile network. Read More »

Ken Banks and FrontlineSMS: How 'Reluctant Innovators' Offer Hope to the World

Ken Banks might, in some respects, be described as a reluctant innovator. In 2005, he created FrontlineSMS, a simple piece of software that enables a cheap laptop to use a mobile phone to send, receive and collate group text messages, effectively creating a communication network. It’s an idea that has helped many NGOs connect with isolated populations.

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Ken Banks Receives ACM Award for FrontlineSMS Work

Press Release | Association for Computing Machinery | May 10, 2017

Ken Banks, recipient of the Eugene L. Lawier Award for developing Frontline SMS, using mobile technology and text messaging to empower people to share information, organize aid, and reconnect communities during crises. A self-descrived "moble anthropologist," Banks has a gift for building technology that benefits humanity. As someone who was writing code and tinkering with computers since he was 13, Banks instinctively saw an opportunity to harness the world's most-used communications platform--mobile messaging--to help people in the developing world. In 2005, he designed, coded and launched FrontlineSMS, a mobile messaging platform that allows people to subscribe to groups, receive alerts, and establish communication hubs.

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Kenya Pushes Technology Into Overdrive

Staff Writer | Sierra Express Media | April 23, 2013

The country that gave the world two groundbreaking innovations in technology: M-Pesa, a mobile banking system, and Ushahidi, a platform for crowdsourcing information during disasters, is now taking its technological talents to new heights. The East African nation of Kenya has just started construction on a 5,000-acres piece of land in Konza... Read More »

Kenya Rolls Out Open-Source e-Health System

Steve Mbogo | The East African | September 15, 2012

An open source software e-health system being used in Kenya’s public hospitals since February has drastically cut costs and should pave the way for the model to be replicated in other East African countries. Read More »

Kenya's Ushahidi Brings Tech Help Where It's Needed Most

Arik Hesseldahl | Tech Investor News | April 16, 2013

“If it works in Africa it will work anywhere.” It’s something occasionally said about the mobile market on the continent. It’s something that Juliana Rotich has lived as the head of Ushahidi, a non-profit tech organization born during the chaos of post-election violence in Kenya... Read More »

Kenya’s BRCK Launch Delayed Until Next Year

Selipha Kihagi | HumanIPO | October 25, 2013

Kenyan technology firm Ushahidi has pushed back the release date of BRCK, an internet device designed by Kenyan technology company Ushahidi to keep people connected to the internet during network downtime, until the first quarter of 2014. Read More »

Kenya’s Kuhonga Fighting Corruption Using The Ushahidi Platform

Tefo Mohapi | HumanIPO | January 17, 2013

Kuhonga, an anti-corruption mapping platform, seeks to address the question “how can we crush corruption in Africa?” by using data and maps to track activity related to corruption. Read More »

Kenya’s Ushahidi Brings Tech Help Where It’s Needed Most

Arik Hesseldahl | All Things Digital | April 16, 2013

“If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere.” It’s something that’s occasionally said about the mobile market on the continent. And it’s something that Juliana Rotich has lived as the head of Ushahidi... Read More »