Dear friends,

Welcome to the 25th issue of our newsletter. My name is Annelie Östlund and I am the new editor of our newsletter. This issue brings you project updates, reports from recently held workshops and meetings with our partners. We would like to encourage our network to share your experiences with us for the coming newsletters and the SPIDER website. The text should be proofread and not exceed one A 4 and we reserve the right to edit the content.

The SPIDER team whishes you all a pleasant Spring!

Annelie Östlund, Project Assistant, SPIDER

Two new projects in Bolivia

In close cooperation with the Dutch NGO IICD (www.iicd.org), SPIDER is set to start two new projects in Bolivia. They are both dealing with ICT and Gender and our counterparts Bolivian NGOs Casa de la Mujer and CIDOB (Centro de Investigaciones de Relaciones Internacionales y Desarrollo).

Enhanced acess to primary healthcare through ICT in northern Tajikistan

The project “ICT in rural healthcare in Tajikistan” has established telemedicine and communication links between two rural healthcare centers and a city hospital in northern Tajikistan. As a result of the projet, fewer patients have been referred to the city hospital for diagnostics and treatment. The referral system betweeen the rural healthcare centers and the hospital has also been improved and now suits the patients needs in a more efficient way. The information flow between the city hospital and the rural centers has improved and as a result the rural healthcare workers have gained more experience and knowledge on e.g. medical treatment.

Presentations from the workshop "e-Health in Low Resource Settings: The Path to Sustainability" now available

Presentations from the workshop "e-Health in Low Resource Settings:
The Path to Sustainability", organized by Karolinska University Hospital,
Karolinska Inistitutet and the Norwegian Center for Telemedicine with the
support from SPIDER, are now available at the SPIDER website.

New eHealth project in Uganda

The SPIDER Board has approved a new project within the area of eHealth.
The proof of concept project “ICT4MPOWER” is a collaboration between many
partners including the Ministry of Health, UCC, the Ministry of ICT,
Makerere University, Karolinska Unversity Hospital in Sweden and
Ericsson AB, among other. 

SPIDER at the Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research

The 1^st Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research was held on March 25 and 26 in Brussels. It brought together more than 400 stakeholders; sub-Saharan African and European policy-makers with ICT research organizations, to address ICT research cooperation between sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Europe.  Dr. Afzal Sher, Director SPIDER, participated in the first panel roundtable discussion Africa-EU Cooperation on ICT: from Research to Deployment.