Symposium on Ebola brings out ICT tools in Ebola fight

Mike Schmoker  said “In a research-poor context, isolated experience replaces professional knowledge as the dominant influence on how teachers teach.”

UbuntuNet Alliance carries the vision of becoming a facilitator  of innovative solutions to the health challenges facing the African continent through promotion of telemedicine.

Building on collaborative remote telemedicine initiatives on research and education networks such as the Dengue Symposiums in the Caribbean and in Asia, the Alliance, against all  organisational and technological challenges.

held a Symposium on Ebola as a pre-conference event to UbuntuNet-Connect 2014 held on 12^th November with an impressive audience of conference participants.

Mali’s Doctor Ousman Ly, General Director of National Agency of Tele-health and Medical Informatics in the country’s Ministry of Health, despite being called to attend to a case of Ebola that Mali reported earlier that month and a break in the data link,  availed his presentation that offered insight into a new e-health strategy  of using ICT tools in Mali to create awareness  but also track Ebola in real time.

The electronic alert system for Ebola is an application developed for mobile phones that allows real-time trace data for Ebola and all diseases of epidemic potential. This application is a digital display interface called Digital Integrated Health Information System (SNISI) and is installed on phones responsible for Health Information System at the District [Mali]. 

Representing the Ministry of Health in Zambia, Dr Constantine Malama,  Virologist and Public Health Specialist indicated that Zambia was currently conducting research on Ebola and allayed fears of the virus spreading to Zambia directly from the fruit bat  indicating that a recent study had shown that the country’s climate does not support the fruit bat which is a natural career of Ebola. 

The Doctor further indicated that Zambia had instituted professional health checks at its airports to screen all entrants into the country and had already created Ebola isolation facilities in a remote location. 

Another global Telemedicine event is slated for December 2014 at Asia Telemedicine Symposium (ATS2014) to be held on December 13, 2014 at the Telemedicine Development Center of Asia (TEMDEC) of Kyushu University Hospital in Japan.

According to Yasuichi Kitamura, the board of director of Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN), the  regional research and education network of Asia Pacific area the symposium brings together doctors to tackle emerging medical issues.

“One of the working groups of APAN is the medical working group. This WG is very active for having the collaboration about the telemedicine.  And this is the special thing but this working group is organized by the medical doctors not by the network engineers and the WG's scope is the real medical matters.
UbuntuNet Alliance’s Joe Kimaili will present remotely from Uganda's renown Makerere  University. According to Kitamura there is a strong collaborative partnership in between Uganda’s Makerere University and Japanese and university hospitals that have previously facilitated collaborative initiatives in orthopedics. Interested Ugandan researchers can enlist to participate in the Telemedicine Symposium by emailing info@ubuntunet.net

Pan-African research and education network to be realized soon

“We are  convinced that working together, the dream of a pan-African research and education network will be fulfilled soon, through the junction of the UbuntuNet Alliance, West and Central Africa Research and Education Network (WACREN) and Arab States Network  (ASREN) in North Africa,” Said Dr Boubakar Barry, Board Member of UbuntuNet Alliance, the regional association of National Research and Education Networks  (NRENs) in  Eastern and Southern Africa when he opened UbuntuNet-Connect 2014, the 7th Annual Conference of the Alliance, on November 12, 2014.

Africa has so far been mapped into three regions in as far as  high speed connectivity of research and education networks: West and Central Africa, North African and Eastern and Southern Africa. A new Initiative in the offing is expected to fast track actualisation of the dream of Africa_wide connectivity to huge speed data networks.  This is all expected to revolutionise the continent through reduction of brain drain of qualified researchers, provision of innovative solutions through research to problems such as infectious diseases, climate change and food shortage, corruption currently dogging African states.

Meanhwile, Dr Barry also described UbuntuNet-Connect 2014 as an international event in a global environment. The Conference held at the prestigious Hotel Intercontinental in Lusaka, Zambia started with a minute of silence in honour of Africa’s fallen leader and Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata who died on October 28, 2014.

UbuntuNet-Connect 2014 brought together participants from 28 different nations in unearthing ideas, experiences and research finding spanning across the fields of ICT, education, research and connectivity.

“In the globalised environment that we have today, a challenge that impacts any part of the world must be the concern of all nations. The latest example that illustrates this is the Ebola epidemic we are facing today, and about which we organized yesterday an International Symposium as part of the UbuntuNet-Connect 2014 programme.” Said Dr Barry about the conference themed Infrastructure, Innovation, Inclusion.

Meanwhile the Zambian Government through the Deputy Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Hon. Col. Panji Kaunda challenged researchers and academicians to fully utilize UbuntuNet, the high speed data networks being rolled out under the AfricaConnect project.

“I am posing a challenge to our researchers and academicians to aggressively use the research and education networks which are now being rolled-out to collaborate and bring about innovation and workable solutions to our unique  situations,” said Kaunda, who’s Government has been exemplary in supporting rolling out of a backbone network in Zambia and promoting international interconnectivity. 

From the GÉANT Association, Cathrin Stöver said in pan-African nature of the new phase of AfricaConnect would require increased liberalisation of the telecommunication markets in order to avoid regulatory impediments to an otherwise beneficial project.

UbuntuNet-Connect 2014 explores ways of giving real value to African researchers

UbuntuNet Alliance, the regional research and education networking organisation for Eastern and Southern Africa, lastweek held its 8th Annual Conference, UbuntuNet-Connect in Lusaka at the prestigiuos Hotel Intercontinental.

The Conference unearthed ideas, experiences and research finding spanning across the fields of  ICT, education, research and connectivity from across the globe. 

Commenting in one of the panel discussions, Dr Pascal Hoba incoming CEO of UbuntuNet Alliance added that indeed there is need for the Alliance to harmonize its efforts with researchers by surveying what their needs are and meeting them.


Eng. Dr Tusubira has described the Conference as a 'wonderful event.'

"It looks to me like UbuntuNet has already gone well beyond a conference to an annual gathering of the clans where we share knowledge and experience, and ensure the growth and sustainability of the research and education networking tribe both in Africa and around the world."